Learning to live again
by selfless1978
Summary: After a life of hurt and suffering, Michelle meets someone who might be able to help. Her and himself. FYI No bots have died here in this story. They are all alive and well in my fantasyland. Co-written with ImpartingAbyss Ironhide/OC, Sides/OC/Sunny
1. Chapter 1

The stars. There was always something mysterious about them, even after everything scientists know. There was just something magical about those far away balls of light. They get wished on, have been used as beacons to guide travelers, signs for early farmers to start planting crops and some seek their future in the elaboroate pictures mankind has placed among them. But in truth all they really are are balls of hotly burning gas that has the possibility to spawn life if all conditions are met. Earth was a good example of that. Our star gave us life and was full of it and filled most humans here with curiosity about other life filled planets so it had to of worked on another ball of rock out there. Right?

Michelle herself wasn't sure if she should believe that theory. Heck she didn't know what to believe in anymore. Life, she decided, just hated her. Ever since she was a kid it had done everything it could have to make it unbearable to want to live. Molestation, being bullied as a kid followed by loosing her parents in a car accident because of a stupid drunk driver. Growing up had been even worse, rape that had gone unpunished because he could afford the better lawyer which had cost her her promising career, having to move in with her older brother and settle into a completly new area. Couldn't really expect to keep your job when it was your boss who did it and since she couldn't afford her own place anymore she had packed up her few things she wanted to keep and her pitt bull Sheeva and had traveled across the country.

Her brother Mark had been the only lifeline she had. Through it all he had been there for her, supported her the best he could, even if he was stationed at a military base across the country. He didn't even hesitate to offer her a room in his small house, if fact he insisted on it. She smiled at the memory of him going out to buy stuff for Sheeva shortly after her arrival. He had always loved dogs but was to busy for his own pet, so he spoiled her year old black and white pitt rotten. He had also helped her find a job at a nearby gas station. It wasn't much but it was work. She wanted to work, earn her own money. It was bad enough that she had to live with him, she wasn't going to mooch all of his money too. He was gone a lot, and often on very short notice, but here she felt safe, secure, knowing he was there for her until she figured out what to do with her life. For the first time in a long time she was actually genuinely happy again. Until today.

Now, depending on what you believed, he was up there among those balls of light. Tears filled her eyes as she sat ontop of the quiet rocky hill top. Just like everything else in her life that brought her joy, he was gone and she was now completely alone. She didn't even give the soldiers time to tell her what had happened, wasn't sure it was believable anyway since he never talked about what he exactly did on base, she had just took off in grief with Sheeva by her side. It was how she handled things, because she had been a loner most of her life it was the best way for her to deal with problems. Sit in isolation and think things through, then call Mark. Except this time she couldn't call him. This time she was totally on her own and that scared her. She didn't make friends easy, didn't really trust anyone enough to let them get close enough to be one. So she sat here in the chill of the night and looked up at those stars. "Mark, what do I do?" She asked him quietly, still hoping that he would somehow come out of nowhere and tell her it was all a big misunderstanding. "I have nowhere else left to go."

"Well, I can think of a place right off hand that's better than here." said a voice behind her and she jumped, almost losing her precarious seat on the rock she was sitting on and tumbling down the cliff. She hadn't heard anyone pull up and Sheeva hopped up to her feet just as startled as she was. Cautiously she turned around to see Maj. Lennox standing there next to his big black truck. She had only met him once or twice but he seemed to be a nice guy, but then again...so did her old boss. "Staying out here on the side of a cliff might not be the be the best thing in your condition."

She didn't say anything, just watched him with a suspicious eye. As long as he kept his distance she was alright. "How did you find me?" She asked finally as she got to her feet.

"Mark showed you this spot, didn't he?" She nodded her head as Sheeva went to go sniff his outstretched hand, then the dog looked at the truck curiously. "Who do you think showed it to him?" He gave her a soft smile. "He told me that you two used to stargaze a lot when you were smaller. I figured you might be out here." He looked up himself at the clear night sky. "I know I would be."

She let her guard down with him, just a little. Mark had trusted him, that she did know. Him and a guy he had used to call 'the big boss'. If he had wanted to hurt her she was sure he would have by now and she did trust Mark's instincts.

"It helps, a little." Here in the quiet she for some reason felt close to him, more so than in the house in the crowded little neighborhood below her. She looked at the lights below her as they seemed to outshine the smaller ones above her. When they were kids they would always sneak out of the house to find a spot similar to this and just sit for hours as the constellations moved slowly across the sky above them, joking about what aliens would look like or just wondering if anything was even out there to make fun of. Usually they would just fall silent after a while and just watch. She sighed as her eyes swept over the neighborhood below her. She wasn't sure if this could be her home or not, but for right now it was all she had. Mark had bought the house here and it was already paid off so at least she had a place to stay. She just didn't know if she wanted to anymore. She turned her gaze away from the lights below her, but not before she caught sight of two red balls of light in the trees below her. They were as gone as quickly as she seen them and she was wondering if her eyes were playing tricks on her.

She had to smile at her dog, who was seriously sniffing out the truck. Sheeva was a curious animal and something in that truck definitely had her attention. She went around to the other side to continue her sniffing, her new collar Mark had gotten her making a tinkling sound as her tags clicked together on it. Lennox was eyeballing his truck with an amused expression, as if there was something funny only he knew about. Then he turned back to Michelle. "Come on, I'll give you and your dog a ride home. Mark would haunt me if I let you stay up here like this." His amused expression suddenly turned into a full grin and he seemed to try and keep from laughing. Michelle was starting to wonder if maybe there was something wrong with the guy. What is so funny about offering someone a ride home?

She was about to decline the offer, she knew the way back good enough and besides he was still a stranger to her and she didn't trust strangers, when Sheeva came running around the truck to stand next to her. The dog had her black eye patched face staring down the cliff and she let out a frightening growl. Michelle looked at her stunned. Sheeva had never growled like that before and that made her very uneasy.

"Michelle! Get away from the edge!" Lennox suddenly snapped at her and she wasn't about to argue. Before she could back up there was a flash of light and the ground shook with an explosion that hit the cliff under where she was standing and she found herself tumbling down the cliff face. Frantically she tried to grab ahold of anything she could to slow her fall down the steep slope but wasn't having much luck. The only thing there was to grab onto on this side was rocks and they were all loose. She did manage to start a small avalanche around her but that really wasn't the idea. She looked down at the bottom and saw the red lights again as she fell, closer this time, before she slammed her head against a rock on the way down. As pain also erupted in her right arm from another bad slam against a rock she felt something wrap around her and this time two blue lights looked down at her before everything erupted into chaos with flashing lights and explosions. She could hear Sheeva barking above her before she just let the darkness consume her.

.

.

She was lying down, that she was sure of. Where she was, wasn't so certain. Why was the bed bouncing?

"Can't you go any faster!?"

"Not while dodging those slag blasted cons! And will you do something about that accursed beast!? It's noises are grating on my audio receivers!"

Suddenly the whole thing shifted and her right arm slammed into what felt like a padded wall. Her eyes shot open in renewed pain to see Lennox leaning over her but he was facing the front, talking to someone she couldn't see. She wasn't on a bed, she was in the back of his truck. Sheeva was sitting on her legs with her short hair raised on her slender, long legged form, unusual for a pitt, barking and growling at the back window. The truck swerved again as a light flared up behind them followed by an explosion. Sheeva stumbled around trying to keep her footing, digging her claws into the leather seats, but lost and fell to the floorboard. Lennox heard Michelle's pain filled gasp and turned his head back around to face her.

"If that infernal creature has damaged my interior I will use it's hide as a replacement!" Came the unknown voice again.

"Can it big guy!" Lennox snapped at him then directed his attention to her. "Don't move. You broke your arm in the fall and might have cracked your skull pretty good." He tried to hold her steady as the truck swerved again. He failed miserably as her head slammed into the interior wall and she was once again consumed by darkness.

.

.

She liked it here. It was peaceful, quiet. There was nothing, no one here to cause her any pain, any suffering. The darkness surrounded her like a warm blanket on a cold night and she embraced it. She wasn't going to leave if she had any say over it.

'_That's the problem sis, you don't_.' Mark? Was that Mark? Slowly his softly glowing frame appeared in front of her. She could see clearly his black curly hair, round boyish face even though he was in his mid twenties, his deep brown eyes that were now filled with love, and regret. '_I'm sorry, I didn't want to go. Didn't want to leave you. There is joy in life and I was wanting you to relearn that and help you to do so but it looks like I won't get the chance now_.' She was stunned and couldn't bring herself to speak as he seemed to reach out a hand and brush her dark brown hair out of her face and smiled at her. '_I did make sure you wouldn't be alone if something happened to me. He's a grumpy ol' grouch but he owed me a favor, a big one. He'll take care of you, if you let him._' Then his face took on a more serious tone. '_Make sure that Sheeva doesn't lose that new collar I got her. It's more important than you know_.' Then he started to fade away, she tried to reach out to him but couldn't find anything solid to hold on to anymore. '_I love you, Michelle_.' Then he was gone.

Michelle snapped awake in unfamiliar surroundings. Everything was white from what she could tell in the dark room, the only lights coming from the medical equipment in the room. It was still night from what she could see out the window, how late she didn't know. What happened? She closed her eyes again, trying to figure out how she had gotten here. The last thing she remembered clearly was sitting on the hilltop talking to Lennox, everything after that was a blur in her pain filled head. Mark...had she seen Mark? Lord she was so confused, about everything. She just wanted to go home, wanted to be with her brother. And once again grief hit her as the tears began to roll down her face.

"Are you in pain?" Came a voice from the dark corner of the room and she jumped, then groaned in pain as her head protested the sudden movement. She could have sworn she was alone in the room. She didn't answer but instead glared at the corner from where the voice came from. "Are your...ears...not functioning? I asked you if you are in pain." Why did it seem like she knew that voice?

"Who the fuck are you?" She asked, once again fighting feelings of confusion, and fear. She was alone with a man she didn't know and she didn't like it one bit.

Quietly the owner of the voice emerged from the shadows he had been hiding in. Dressed in black jeans, boots and a black shirt he didn't look like he was a doctor or a nurse, so why was he here? "I'm the one who got stuck in this room watching over you. I will ask one more time, are you in pain?"

Well it wasn't the answer she was looking for. She kept her glare on him as he moved closer to the bed. "Get away from me!" She hissed at him and he stopped his advance.

He narrowed his blue eyes at her as he seemed to look her over. "Ungrateful femme." He muttered to himself then again spoke to her. "I am merely concerned about your well being."

"Why? I don't know you. Just stay the hell away from me." She looked around the room as she realized something was missing. "And where is my dog!?"

"The beast is being cared for."

"Where is she!"

He glared back at her. "If you don't quit screaming at me I will find something to secure your lips shut."

She blinked, but remained quiet. She still kept her glare fixed on his glare though.

"Well this is going better than I expected." Came an amused voice from the doorway and Michelle turned her head to the new voice. Lennox was leaning in the doorframe with a wide grin on his face and there was another man with him and he was the one who spoke. "It seems like you found someone who is as stubborn as you are." He grinned at the black clad man who just rolled his blue eyes and stomped back to his corner.

Lennox had moved in closer and looked down at her. "Everything is fine, Michelle. Your dog is being looked after by some friends of mine here on the base." Again confusion washed over her. Why was she on the base? She had never been allowed to go in before. She thought she was at a hospital. "These guys here are also friends of mine, they won't hurt you. Believe it or not they are nice guys." There was a snort that came from the dark corner and Lennox grinned again. "For the most part."

"You may call me Ratchet." The other man said as he also approached. "It seems to me that you are experiencing some pain. I'll take care of that right now."

Well that was a strange name. He seemed to know what he was doing so Michelle just stayed quiet as he worked but she did take the chance to look him over. Looked like your typical doctor, glasses, lab coat and all that blah blah. His eyes however were that same stunning blue as Mr. Black over in the corner. "I tried to get her to tell me if she was in need of assistance with the pain but the stupid femme would rather just scream at me."

Lennox chuckled. "She's been through a lot today. I'm surprised screaming at you was all she did." There was another snort from the corner.

By now Ratchet had finished checking her over and the painkillers he had given her were kicking in. "Rest now young one, we will talk more tomorrow." He told her as he walked out of the room.

Lennox was looking thoughtfully down at her as she started to drift off to sleep. "You don't need to fear him, Michelle. He'll watch over you as you sleep. If you need anything, just let him know." Then he too left the room.

"Why?" She whispered into the room, still very confused over it all.

Silence was her answer for a few moments. "Because I promised." She seemed to hear as she drifted off to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Michelle woke up just as the sun was starting to rise, staining the horizon in fiery red and orange hues. She quietly watched out the window as that blazing ball of fire made its way slowly upward, casting her white walls in brilliant color. She used to love watching the sun rise, but she was just too numb inside now. She simply could not bring herself to care.

She still couldn't remember much of what happened last night. She had been trying to piece it all together since she had woken up, but all she got was frustrating flashes of memory. She grunted in frustration as she looked at her arm that was now wrapped up in a cast. Sighing she just turned her gaze back out the window again. The only thing she could clearly remember from the night before was the strange red and blue lights, but how they played into what had happened still eluded her. They weren't the flashing kind you see on police cars, so what were they?

The question had bothered her at first upon waking but honestly, she really didn't care anymore. She didn't want to be here, there was nothing left for her here. So what was the point? The quiet click of the door opening was suddenly very loud in the quiet room and very unwelcome. It held for a moment but as the door slowly slid shut again and still no one spoke she began to think that whoever it was had only ducked in to check on her and left.

Unfortunately, before she could let her hackles down the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Someone was still there, but she didn't turn her head to look, just kept her eyes focused out the window. She only wanted to be left alone, hopefully whoever it was had some other business besides her and would go away quickly. The last thing she wanted to hear was some overly sweet stranger tell her everything was going to be O.K. Because it wasn't.

The smell of food met her nose just as the retractable tray attached to her nightstand was pulled out, with a rattle the plate was set down and rolled to her side. She however, kept her gaze on the window. "You need nourishment." Mr. Black. 'He,' was apparently still here.

"I'm not hungry." Food was the last thing she wanted right now.

"I don't care if you are or not. You will eat." Why couldn't he just leave her alone? Was that to much to ask? The tray was swung around to where the food was placed in front of her.

"I said I'm not hungry." She pushed it away, and it came right back in again.

"You will eat." He said, his tone firm.

"Just leave me alone!" She flared as she once again pushed the tray away.

"No." he pushed it back once again.

"I said, _I don't want it!_" Again she pushed it away. "I don't want _anything_ but to just lay down and die somewhere!" She snapped her mouth shut as soon as that came out. The tears she thought had run dry threatened to spill once more, and as the first fiery streaks ran down her cheeks she managed to choke out, "Just leave me alone."

But the tray took it's stubborn place in front of her again. "I do not care about your self pity. I only care that you eat."

Anger took hold of her at that moment and with her good hand she reached out, slipped it under the food tray, and flung it at him. He wouldn't be able to make her eat it now! He tried to dodge but was standing far too close and ended up covered in orange juice, eggs and sausage, for a moment time seemed to stand still, until one golden egg slid down his face and dripped onto the floor by the now upside down tray.

His eyes flashed with anger and he growled threateningly as he shook the remaining food product off. With obvious effort he managed to control himself, but if the mumbling and clinching fists were any indication, it wasn't easy. He did look quite disgusted as he picked the pieces of egg out of his black hair, but Michelle only ignored him, and as he retrieved the tray from the floor she once again turned her gaze to the window. She only allowed her tears to finally break free once she heard him leave, the door slamming shut behind him. Maybe she should have felt bad, but she just didn't care.

.

.

A few hours later she was still alone in the room and looking out the window. Someone had come to clean up the mess but she didn't bother to look to see who it was. Ratchet and Lennox had both stopped by briefly but they, too, were ignored. She caught their brief, worried expression but, again, didn't care. She didn't care about anything. Everything she cared about was dead.

There was a small ruckus going on in the hallway, Mr. Black was back and grumbling at someone before he popped in the doorway and entered the room. He stopped and looked at her for a moment, most traces of his earlier anger gone, now replaced with annoyance, and all the food off of him. It looked like he had gone home, or where ever he went, cleaned up and put the exact same outfit on. Michelle wondered if that was all he had in his closet before she ignored him again and turned her gaze back out the window.

He watched her for a moment and a slight frown found it's way on his face, tinted with a hint of worry, before he leaned out the doorway again. "Will you hurry up? If Ratchet catches that thing in here were all slagged, I do _not_ want another dent today!" He snapped to someone in the hallway.

A young blonde haired man came in with something small by his side that turned into a white and black streak as it ran across the floor then landed with a big leap onto the bed. Michelle stared in joy filled shock at Sheeva. The sweet Pit was sitting on top of her before she plopped down, and sprawled across her body. She wrapped her good arm around the dog and was rewarded with a face full of doggie kisses and a few joy filled giggles escaped her at the exuberant pups antics.

"Disgusting." Mr. Black shuddered as he watched from the foot of the bed. The blonde didn't say anything but he let a big grin loose on his face. Sheeva had by now raised the cover up and had wormed her way under them where she rolled up into a ball and promptly fell asleep next to Michelle's legs.

She smiled then for the first time since waking up in this strange room. "I suppose I should thank you." She told the two men standing at the foot of the bed. She was still grinning down at the lump in her bed where Sheeva lay.

"You can thank me by eating a decent meal, instead of throwing it at me." Came the cool reply.

The blonde one just rolled his eyes at Black's tone and Michelle sent a cold glare at him. But, to be honest, she would be pissed too if someone threw a plate of food at her. She sighed and swallowed her pride. "I'm sorry." She mumbled at him.

His eyes were still hard as he glared back at her. "Apology accepted. Do not let it happen again."

"Well stop being a dickhead and it won't." She snapped at him.

"Well at least you two are talking now." Lennox said as he came into the room, then looked curiously at the blonde. "What are you doing here Bee? Didn't I leave the dog with you?" Bee? His name was Bee? Why all the weird names? Bee looked a bit sheepish as he glanced at Mr. Black. Lennox caught the look around the same time Sheeva moved under the covers, making them move with her, before she plopped back down. "Oh no you two didn't..." He stared at the two wide eyed. "Ratchet is going to-"

"Ratchet is going to what?" said the medic as he entered. Now all three of them looked like they would rather be somewhere else.

"Ratchet is going to get Michelle to eat some lunch." Lennox said quickly, too quickly it seemed as Ratchet narrowed his eyes at his friend.

"Oh? Is the femme in the mood to eat it instead of throwing it?" The doctor asked.

"Yes." They both answered as Bee shook his head up and down vigorously.

Ratchet wasn't buying it apparently as he turned back to Michelle who looked at him in wide eyed innocence. Sheeva took that quiet moment to sneeze, loudly. Ratchet quickly strode over to the bed and pulled back the cover enough to see a pair of bright brown eyes peer at him from beneith the sheets before she raised her head and licked his hand. Then she lowered it back down and let out a content sigh. Slowly he put the cover back down and turned to Mr. Black and Bee who were both alot closer to the door and avoiding his gaze. Without saying a word he turned from the bed and purposely drug them both out into the hallway by their shirt collars. Curiously once they were out of sight there was what sounded like metal hitting metal a few times from somewhere not far away. Lennox winced slightly at the sounds.

After a few moments the three men came back in, with Bee rubbing his head. "Very well, since these two decided to risk my wrath by sneaking the animal in here, it can stay. And since someone believes so strongly that it will do better good here, he will also take care of it." He looked at Mr. Black, who didn't look to happy about it but he nodded in agreement. Lennox hid his grin behind his hand. Ratchet turned back to Michelle. "And you, I will tolerate no more food throwing. You will eat it or I will put it in a feeding tube if you can not act your age." Michelle blushed a little in shame over her earlier actions and quietly nodded her own head in agreement. He glared around at all of them before he left the room in a huff.

"Well that went well." Lennox grinned.

"For you maybe." Mr. Black grumbled at him.

Lennox just chuckled before he turned his attention to Michelle. "I called your job and explained to them you had an accident and will be out for a few days."

Again she was taken aback by the level of care they were all giving her. Why did they all worry so much about her? She didn't know any of them at all except Lennox, and she only met him a few times. And she still couldn't remember exactly what had happened. Michelle was again hit by confusion as she looked at the faces in the room. Most of her unease with them was gone, but to be honest she still didn't completely trust them which made her feel like crap because they were obviously bending rules for her. After a brief mental argument she finally decided to talk to them. It was the least she could do after everything they did for her. "Thank you. I might need that job to pay all the medical bills I guess."

Lennox winked at her. "Don't worry about it, this one is on the house."

She looked at him like he just sprouted a third eye or something. If that was supposed to make her feel better, it didn't. More and more she was feeling indebted to them. "So, what exactly did happen?"

Now there was an uncomfortable silence in the room before Lennox spoke. "What do you remember?"

"Not much. Just flashes of things. The last thing I clearly remember is sitting on that hilltop."

"Which you managed to tumble off of." Mr. Black said told her. "Not the wisest decision to be sitting that close to the edge."

"Did I ask you to comment on my choice of real estate? Didn't think so, so just can your piehole."

"I will comment on it because I was the one who had to catch you!" He snapped back. He looked like he was about to say more but Lennox laid a hand on his arm and he turned away to go sit in a chair in the corner, shaking his head and mumbling to himself. She couldn't understand him at all.

Why was he such an ass? Wait did he just say he was the one to go get her? She found herself looking at him with something akin to gratitude mixed with confusion. How in the world did he manage that cliff? God if she could only remember!

Ratchet chose that moment to come back in the room with a tray of food. He sat it down in front of her as he glared. "Now, will you eat this or should I get the restraints and feeding tube?"

Lennox chuckled. "I'd advise you to eat and not use it as a weapon this time. Might be healthier for you."

Michelle glared back at him, slightly annoyed over it all. "Fine, I'll eat. Just to get you all to leave me alone."

"You better." Ratchet mumbled before he left the room. "You will stay in my care until tomorrow morning, until then you will take in proper nourishment. I'll not have my patients starving themselves." She wanted to roll her eyes at him but something told her that might not be a good idea. Maybe Sheeva's presence was helping her mood.

Lennox and Bee also took their leave, explaining that they had to talk to the big guy. Michelle didn't even bother asking who the Big Guy was, the place was weird enough as it was. She was however starting to wonder why her brother liked working with them all so much, but the thought of him had her throat closing up and she looked down at her tray of food. Honestly wondering if she could bring herself to eat it she started to push it away but a voice from the corner stopped her.

"Not wise femme, Ratchet will make good on his threat." Mr. Black said from his corner. Why was he even still here? It didn't seem to her that he liked her very much. And if he didn't the feeling was mutual. He was an ass. And what the hell is a femme? "You will consume that, one way or another, might as well do it willingly." He was right, the last thing she wanted was a feeding tube.. which she thought was a little extreme. But as weird as everyone here was she didn't wan't to take the chance.

Sighing Michelle began to eat, forcing the food she really didn't want down her throat. Surprisingly the food didn't taste to bad, for hospital food or military food or whatever kind of food it was. Still she could only finish about half of it before she just couldn't make herself eat anymore and she pushed the tray away. Sheeva picked that momet to pop her head out from under the blanket, eyeballing the tray hopefully. Once she figured out she wasn't going to get the leftovers she sighed and sulked back into her hiding place.

Mr. Black didn't move from his chair in the corner, at all. Not even to blink. Michelle's eyes kept being drawn to him. Wasn't to hard to explain really, he was the only other thing in the room besides Sheeva. She didn't really want to talk to him but curiosity of the dark clad man was starting to fill her. He was handsome, in a rugged kind of way, not that she was looking, and he seemed determined to just sit there with her, and she really didn't know why.

"What?" He finally growled at her after a few moments of her watching him.

"Your bedside manners leave a lot to be desired." She replied. He just answered with a snort. Michelle sighed in frustration, settling back into the pillows. Why did she have to have Mr. Grump for company? Didn't he have anything better to do? Like drown a kitten or something? Still, her mother did teach her _some_ manners. "Thank you. For coming after me."

He didn't say anything, but his eyes did met hers briefly before he looked away again. When their eyes met again she had a momentary vision of glowing blue lights in the darkness but it was gone as quick as it came. Frowning slightly, she closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Maybe she was seeing things because she had hit her head. Ok, be polite Michelle. "So, do you have a name? Or should I call you Mr. Black?"

"Mr. Black?" He frowned, confusion showing on his face.

She shrugged. "Was the first thing that came to mind, since you never introduced yourself. It didn't take a lot of thought, all you wear is black."

Was that a slight twinkle of amusement in his eye? "That designation will suffice." Ugh, what was with all the formalities? Couldn't he just say 'that's fine'?

"So, I'm assuming you're not going to tell me your name. Why?" Again he lapsed into silence looking toward the door. Didn't seem like he was much of a talker. Suited her just fine as she turned her gaze back out the window. She didn't like to talk either. But after a short while curiosity pulled at her again. There was just something mysterious about him, and to be honest he looked a little like Mark. There were differences such as the blue eyes instead of brown, straight black hair instead of curly and the more square tones in his face where Mark's was more roundish. But the similarities were still striking. Once again a pain of loss hit her, but she didn't have anything left to cry out. She let a small sigh full of sadness escape instead.

"Now what?" He growled from his corner, startling her.

That was another difference. Mark had been a happy person, always cracking jokes or trying to make you laugh, Mr. Black was a walking cloud of gloom. It was almost depressing having him here. "Nothing you would want to be bothered with." She snapped back at him. She was only allowing him stay in her room and annoy her because he had saved her life and she had acted like a child when he brought her food. She felt bad about it. That's what she kept reminding herself. "Wouldn't want my self pity to annoy you again."

He just rolled his eyes at her and continued to quietly sit in the chair as her thoughts wandered. She would have to figure out what to do now. For the moment she would stay here until she gathered up enough money to relocate. She didn't really want to leave but the house would hurt to much to stay in. Mark's influence was everywhere in it. She would need a new home, but she didn't want to sell the house either. She didn't know for sure that he had left it to her in his will, she suspected he did though. He had been too thorough with things like that. For now she would just focus on healing and going to work. Not that she wanted to, but because Mark would want her to. He would want her to go on with her life. If he only knew how hard that would be without him.

Sheeva began to stir under the covers and slipped her slender form out and onto the floor with a stretch, then came over and laid her head down on Michelle's good arm and let out a small whine. She knew the dog good enough to know what was requested of her and started to get up out of bed out of habit.

"What are you doing?" Mr. Black snapped at her.

"She needs to go out, I'm going to take her."

"You will do no such thing. The animal is fine here." God, was he really such an idiot?

"Fine, _you_ clean up the mess if she pees on the floor then." She snapped back at him.

"It better not."

"Then I need to take her out."

"Fine, I will take it." Grumbling he got up out of the chair and grabbed the leash then turned to Sheeva. He stood there eye balling the dog, who was cocking her head at him questioningly before looking back at her owner. She was obviously confused as to why the big guy had her leash and not her 'mommy'. "Fragg it all canine, come on." Now getting the point, Sheeva happily trotted next to him and happily bounced around as he clipped on her leash, and then they left.

Michelle had to smile, she could have sworn he cringed when the dog licked his hand. Maybe he didn't like dogs. Didn't seem like he liked much of anything. Why was he such a damn grouch? Grouch...something about that word... She furrowed her brow in concentration, there was something important here she was over looking.

She was again interrupted in her thinking as she heard her somewhat unwanted babysitter returning with her pet. One look at his expression as he walked in told her he was not happy. It was a combination of anger and loathing. "That was disgusting. Absolutely dis_gus_ting! How can you stand this thing lubricating and defecating all over the place?" He fumed at Michelle. "Can it not learn to go in a normal waste disposal unit?" Sheeva somehow managed to look at him apologetically as Michelle bust out laughing. She wasn't sure if it was his formal tones, the look on his face or the fact that he even suggested the dog use a toilet but she hadn't laughed so hard in a while now, she had almost forgotten how good it felt. Lord knows she needed a good laugh.


	3. Chapter 3

Michelle watched the scenery pass by absently, thankful that she was finally out of that weird place. They had been nice enough, but she just didn't like being around people. At least, not anymore. Wasn't sure if she ever really had. She sat quietly though in Will's truck, looking out the window as he drove her home. The big diesel rumbled quietly below, the thrum of the engine was hypnotic and she found herself relaxing. He had insisted that she call him that, Will, not Major Lennox. "You're not a soldier, and your brother was a good friend, so you don't have to call me all that. Major Lennox gets on my nerves sometimes, please just call me Will." He was a really nice guy. She could see why her brother had liked him.

Sheeva was calmly sitting in the backseat of the big truck, also looking out the window. Much like herself the pit watched the world pass by as they drove, ears twitching when she suddenly sneezed several times all over the glass. The truck jerked hard enough for her to grab her seat belt and seemed to shudder before it smoothed out again. "Something wrong with your truck?" Michelle asked him worriedly.

"Yeah, he's a little temper-mental, I got a mechanic looking at it later on. Pretty sure he just needs a few whacks with a big wrench, ya know?" He said as he turned into her subdivision. The engine growled stutteringly and she gave Will a sideways glance. But the Major just looked ahead at the road, smiling at his own joke.

"Might not be a bad idea." She told him somewhat disinterestedly. Personally she thought the large truck was a bit overkill. Mark would have liked it though. Again she let out a soft sigh as they drove through her neighborhood.

"You ok?" Will asked her.

"As good as I'm going to get I suppose." Did it really matter if she was fine or not? Not like anyone really cared. So many times before people had gone through the motions of pretending to give a damn about her, only to turn around and...well...use her for other things. Will may have known her brother but to her he was still very much a stranger. He was just being polite, she was sure.

They drove past a small wooded park about six blocks away from her house when Sheeva suddenly let out a low growl. This did make Michelle frown a little. She wasn't a mean tempered dog, if she growled it was for a good reason. They passed the park and the dog kept her eyes on it until they moved out of range before she settled back down. What ever it was that had bothered her wasn't anymore and as the dog relaxed so did Michelle.

A few moments later they pulled into her driveway and Will put the big GMC in park but Michelle just sat in the truck and stared at her house. Having to fight back tears again, she managed to unbuckle herself. She awkwardly moved her good arm around to open the door and it popped opened with ease, surprisingly. She had expected the heavy door to be harder to open. She carefully slid out and Sheeva hopped up to the front and followed her with a light grunt as she hit the pavement. Michelle looked across the interior at the man behind the wheel. "Thank you." As much as she wanted to get away from him and everyone else, she still had her manners.

"Anytime. Michelle, if you ever need anything please don't hesitate to call me." His gaze was firm as he looked at her. "I mean that." He had given her his number earlier and it was tucked into her pocket now.

"Yeah, sure." Like she was going to do that, she had enough of him and his crazy group to last a life time. She softly closed the door and walked into the house without looking back. She opened the door as the black Top Kick pulled away and she called her dog in, then closed the door to the world behind her.

.

.

Ironhide was uneasy as he backed out of the female's driveway. And not just because that animal had expelled it's nasty organic fluids all over his door. He shuddered again. He was going straight to the racks when they got back to base, but something else was bothering him. He could have sworn he had picked up a strange ping on his sensors in town but before he had a chance to investigate further it had disappeared. It was enough of a worry for him to open a link to Prime. The others might call him paranoid but you didn't get to live this long in the war by not listing to your instincts. So, he pinged Prime.

**-What is it Ironhide?-** Prime was short and to the point as usual.

**-That's just it, I'm not entirely sure Sir. I could have sworn I picked up a fraggin 'Con signal earlier, but it faded out as quick as I picked it up.-** It was curious now that he gave it some thought, that he had picked up the signal at the same time that the animal had become distressed.

**-Location?-**

**-Not far from the Self residence-** Humans had such strange, 'names'. Why would you have a family designation the same word that also meant you? Completely Idiotic. Still however, strange name or not, he held a lot of respect for the funny named femme's brother. Even if the femme herself annoyed him to no end. And he did make a promise, one he fully intended to keep.

**-I got nothin' comin' up on long range scans, ya aint been inta Side's High Grade again have ya?-** Jazz interrupted, his accent thick and full of mirth. Of course the hacker extraordinaire would be monitoring his private comm line.. **-Ya sure you're not malfuntionin' old bot?-**

**-Yes, Fragger, I'm sure.-** Primus help him, he was going to kill Jazz. If there was so much as a hint at base that something was wrong with him he'd find his aft in med-bay faster than you could transform, and at Ratchet's not so tender mercy. Something he was very much not looking forward to. That sneaky little silver mech had better keep his lip plates shut if he knew what was good for him. Prime's second in command or not, he would make sure the saboteur paid for it. **- I'm sending a data packet now.-** He quickly compressed and encrypted the file before sending it to the smaller mech. Paranoid, his aft. If Jazz wanted to snoop, he could damn well make himself useful.

**-Got it. This is a strange readin, Prime. Hides actually right, more'n likely Decepticon, there, then jus disappears, Prolly cloaked itself when it sensed one of us in tha vicinity. Wonder what they gettin up to now.-**

**-Of course I'm right!-** Ironhide shouted at him.** - It's a Con you glitch, it's obviously up to no fragging good!- **

**-Suggestions?-** Prime cut in before there was a verbal sparring match between the two mechs.

**-I'll pick that data apart, see if I can figure out who dis bitch is.-** Jazz said. **-Looks like they wanna play Hide n' Seek. Too bad that's ma favorite game. Might be usein some new tech too, theres some serious code here. This may take a while, I'll get right on it Boss bot.-**

**-Or your just getting old and rusty.-** Ironhide told him.

**-Old and rusty eh? Who went into recharge in tha Rec room an let Sideswipe reprogram his weapon systems to blow bubbles?-** Came the quick retort.

God those twins were a pain in the aft, Ironhide let that one go. **-I suggest a covert watch on the femme Prime. I'm now not altogether sure that I was the target on the previous attack.-**

**-Agreed. Two sightings in the same area so close together is unusual. Especially with Miss. Self being present at both sites. I've got two bots that need to get off base anyway before they blow something important up and I have to have another meeting with the human Brass...-** Even through the comm you could hear Prime sighing in frustration. **-Sideswipe, Sunstreaker.-** Prime expanded the comm link to include the front liners. Oh no, not those pit blasted twins...

**-Yes?-** They echoed. Sunny sounded bored and annoyed as usual, clearly uninterested while his brother sounded eager to get new orders, especially if they were to slag some cons. Prime had them scrubbing the flight line after someone filled a cargo plane with paint filled water balloons last Ironhide checked. It wasn't hard to figure out who was responsible. Those two were, as the humans put it, 'Hell on wheels', but they were the bane of decepticons everywhere.

**-You will watch the female human, designation: Michelle Self. Observe and report anything unusual, we have possible decepticon activity. I should not need to remind the two of you to remain hidden, and keep her from harm.-** If Ironhide were human he would have sighed in frustration. As it was his engine sputtered a bit. Asking those two glitches to watch over the femme was not going to go over well. This should be his responsibility anyway, not theirs. But then again, Prime did have a point. There had been three 'Cons on him the other night. And with two humans and that beast he had his servos full. If it hadn't been for the arrival of Bumblebee and the twins it might have been a completely different outcome. The twins were, even if he only admitted it to himself, much more effective against such odds. Their disregard for human life however would surely complicate matters. They didn't kill humans, they were Autobots and Prime had ordered them all to not harm the humans, but the twins didn't go out of their way either. Quite a few people had come very close to being squished in the hallways while the terror twins were on the loose. If not for the humans frantically moving out of their way he was sure the two would be in the brig for more than pranking. **-Ironhide will join you as soon as he returns Lennox to base.-** That made him feel a little better, not much though. At least he would be able to keep an optic on them, and her.

**-We are stuck spark-sitting a squishy?-** Sideswipe asked incredulously.

**-Surely there is another bot who can do this Sir?-** Sunstreaker added coldly.

**-This is a complete waste of our talents, we should be out there hunting those fraggers down!-** Sideswipe pleaded.

**-What talents?-** Ironhide asked them **-Besides being a fragging pain in the aft.-**

**-Sunny, I think he's still upset about the bubble gun...-**

Ironhide swerved a little on the road causing Will to call out, but regained control and drove on, ignoring the now cursing human male in his cab and focused back on the conversation.

**-Why should we be concerned with this femme?- **asked Sunny, clearly unhappy with their new orders. Scrubbing that flight line was probably not looking so bad now. Sunny was disgusted by humans.

**-Listen to me, you half glitched slag heads.-** Ironhide snapped at them **-You will watch over the femme, _and_ keep her safe, or I will personally take Sideswipe's blades out and shove them so deep in your afts it will take Ratchet a full solar cycle to get them back out!-**

**-Easy, old friend.-** Prime gently reprimanded him, with a tone of amusement. **-As I said, there has been a Decepticon sighting near her dwelling. They may be targeting her specifically, though it is unclear why.-** He clarified for the twins.

**- As much as I doubt the cons would want anything to do with a useless squishy, IronAft seems to feel differently. This might be fun after all.-** Sideswipe mused.

**-Fine.-** His twin huffed. **-But don't blame me if the squishy gets underpede and gets squished.-**

**-The idea is to keep that from happening, you twits.-** Ironhide told him.

**-Yeah, yeah. Let's go Sunny!-**

_**-Don't call me that fragger!-**_ And with that they killed the connection.

Primus they acted like fragging sparklings sometimes. With nothing else to be said the other Autobots also cut the comm link.

His human passenger chuckled. "This is going to be fun." Ironhide had played the conversation for him over the radio so he could stay informed.

"Not the choice of words I would have used." The weapons specialist muttered. "They make my processors ache."

.

.

Michelle ended up completely ignoring Ratchet's advice to take it easy for a few days and had called work. After a miserable attempt at taking a bath and relaxing she gave up and after dressing realized she just couldn't stay in the house anymore. It was just...so empty.

Right now she was waiting for Laura, her co worker, to call her back and say that their boss Linda would ok her coming back to work so soon. Michelle was fairly certain Linda would, she was already short staffed and Michelle knew things probably weren't getting done. Running a cash register with one hand wouldn't be too hard and that would free Laura up to get some other things done.

After about a half hour she got the call back saying it was cleared for her to come in if she really wanted too. Michelle really did. This would however be her first night shift and she was a little nervous. A day shift she could handle fine, all the crazies came out at night though. At least she wouldn't be alone there, she had Laura to keep her company. She wasn't too bad, annoying at times, but not too bad.

She decided to call a cab, not wanting to risk trying to drive with a freshly broken arm. She got dressed in her work shirt and some pants she could slip on easy with one arm and fumbled at trying to pull her long brown hair back. By the time she finally managed that now herculean chore, the cab was waiting for her, honking impatiently. She gave Sheeva a quick pat on the head and went out the door.

.

.

Sideswipe sped down the streets with Sunstreaker right on his aft. It felt good to get out and feel the pavement under him as he raced along. Sunny swerved into the other lane and cut around him, almost hitting him as he smoothly slipped in and took the lead. Sides moved to go around him but his twin kept swerving to block him. _'To slow, you fragger.'_ came across their bond.

_'I was just letting you win.'_ Sides responded _'You get all mopey if I beat you and I don't feel like dealing with it.'_

_'You lie about as good as you drive.'_ His twin told him as they both smoothly shot past an old rust bucket clattering along down the road, with black smoke coming out of it's tail pipe. Humans were so pathetic, can't even maintain their vehicles properly. Sides closed off all his vents as the black cloud washed over him, didn't want those nasty particles in his interior. _'Wretched beings.'_ Sunny agreed with his thoughts.

They pulled up to the house not long after and smoothly slid to a stop a few houses down, parking along the curb. Sides had to resign himself to pure unadulterated boredom now. Watching the fleshlings was _not_ his idea of a good time, _ever._ _At all_. Now, busting up some of Mega-trolls' minions on the other hand...that was quite entertaining.

He did a quick scan of the house and was just a tad surprised and frustrated over the fact that there was no sign of any organic lifeforms inside besides a small mammal. From the information he had received she should be here. He could feel Sunny's irritation coming over the bond as well. Now they had to go look for the silly thing. **-Ironhide, the fleshy isn't here.-**

**-What?-** At least Sides wasn't the only one annoyed about the fact. **-That stubborn, glitched, fraggin femme!- **the larger mech sputtered, along with a few other things. **-Meet me at her place of her employment, it's the only other location I can think of where she would be.-**

_'Why is he so concerned about this femme?'_ Sides asked his brother, genuinely confused. Ironhide wasn't really known for his love of humans either. He wasn't as bad as the twins but they weren't on the top of his favorites list either.

_'I don't know. But If he wants to waste his time with her I would rather he leave us out of it.'_

Sides didn't bring it up to Sunny anymore, but as they spun around, tires squealing against the pavement he still thought about it and wondered if the latest mission might have had something to do with it. There had been a decent amount of human casualties in the last encounter they had had with the Decepticons. He quickly brought up his memory files even as he swerved in front of his brother to cut him off from passing him, ignoring the _'Watch the paint!'_ thrown his way.

Ironhide had been hard pressed during that battle and after loosing an arm to the seeker he had been fighting, the Con got a good hit in, just as he was about to go down a lone human male had run up under the Con and managed to lodge an explosive in the seekers hip joint. It was a pitiful attempt, but it had worked in distracting the Con from Ironhide. ThunderCracker had turned from Ironhide and let his rage out on the tiny human. He must have known he wouldn't stand a chance against the big mech as he retaliated. This did provide Ironhide with the opening he needed to gain ground and fight off the others around him. It was too late for the human, however. Seeing the man's mangled body had sent Ironhide into a fury and he went from his usual blow 'em up routine to total decimation. Sunny was even impressed. He wasn't just ripping the Con's arms off, then hitting them with it, he was completely ripping them apart. Then followed it all up with a few close range shots. ThunderCracker wasn't going to get up again anytime soon.

Sides couldn't understand why Ironhide took that one death so hard when he barely paused at the countless others, but he was going to find out. He was also going to find out how the femme fit into all of this. His curiosity had been roused and he just had to know what was going on. But first, he had to beat Sunny to their destination. He accelerated again, and the two cars sped down the road at breakneck speeds, _'Last one there has to wax the loser!'_ He cackled out to his brother.

Sunny's sinister smile flashed in his mind. _'I like the scented wax slagger, remember that when you're shinnin my aft!'_

_'Sure thing Sunshine.'_

_'Don't call me that!'_


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey girl!" Laura exclaimed as Michelle walked in the door, tossing her a set of keys. She gave the woman a half hearted wave in reply after catching them before she walked back to the storage room. Sighing, it seemed like that's all she did anymore, sigh and cry, she took her time card out of the rack hanging next to the door and slid the card into the time clock. The beep it gave her now telling her she was on paid time.

She walked over to the office and unlocked the door with the keys Laura had tossed her, then moved to the desk, unlocked and opened the bottom drawer. Awkwardly with her left arm she wrestled with her cash drawer until she was able to pull the thing out, then shoved the drawer closed with her foot.

She imagined she looked pretty silly on the camera covering the office. Making sure the door would lock behind her, she balanced the tray awkwardly on her cast arm as she pulled the door back closed and headed to the front.

This part always made her a bit nervous as she walked with the tray of money up to the register. Again she had to awkwardly balance the till on her arm as she used the keys to unlock the register drawer. Once it popped open she slipped the cash drawer in and slid it closed again. Then she signed into the register and dropped the key ring into the drawer built under the counter next to the alarm button before she took out her name tag and clipped it on.

The whole process only took her about two minutes. Then she began the task of ringing up customers. They were pretty busy, Laura looked pretty relieved to have some help. Seems like she came in right in the middle of the afternoon rush. She was a bit slower with her dominant arm in a cast but she managed. Laura stayed on the other register and for a while they were both to busy to talk as they kept working on the seemingly unending line of patrons.

For the most part no one gave her a hard time, most of them being regulars that came through often. There were still a few grumbles aimed towards her though at her decreased speed. She just plastered her required fake smile on and ignored them for the most part. Not like she was going to invite any of them home for a party after work anyway. All they managed to do was reinforce her belief that most folks were just ignorant morons not worthy of her time or effort. She really hated people, which might not have been the best thing in this line of work, but she managed to hide it well. For once she was actually thankful for the large crowd. They kept her busy, too busy to think. Right now, thinking was bad.

By the time it quieted down the sun had already set below the horizon and the security lights were beginning to turn on outside. There were only a few hours left before closing, and an eerie calm fell over the store.

Laura took a quick look around at the disaster area the store had become, set her hands on her hips and let out a sigh of resignation. "The place is a mess. Sometimes I really wonder if they act like this at home." She looked over at Michelle. "You feel like facing the store? I'll fill up the coffee machines and the ice in the soda fountains then stock the cooler. Shelves are starting to look a little rough in there."

Michelle nodded. "It'll give me something to do."

Laura gave her an understanding look. "Linda told me about your brother. I'm really sorry."

Once again she found herself fighting back tears. Would this ever stop? Not knowing what to say? She just nodded in acceptance before she turned to straighten up the messy shelves. Laura let out a quiet sigh, knowing there was nothing else she could really say, then began her own chores.

Facing the store was the tedious business of walking around and putting things back that just got discarded where ever the customer felt like throwing it. Then going back along the shelves and pulling all the merchandise forward and labels facing front so it looked all 'pretty, pretty'.

To her it was pointless, it was just going to get all messed up again anyway. But it was required, so she did it. Accompanied by the sounds of Laura dumping ice in the soda fountain she walked around doing her cosmetic work with the aisles, pausing every once in awhile to take care of a customer.

Laura finished with her chores just as a pair of expensive looking cars pulled up into the parking lot. "Oh my..." She gushed. As the sleek silver and yellow cars pulled to a stop, she stared unabashedly out into the lot. "Someone has some money. Is that a fucking Lamborghini? Holy shit! A Lambo! In _our_ parking lot!"

Lambo? Huh, that sounded like a damn sheep with guns, and a red headband.

"And a Corvette! Omigosh, omigosh, omigosh!" She actually squealed and shook her hands, like a twit. If Michelle had actually cared what people thought she might have been embarrassed.

Michelle gave her co worker an annoyed look. "Never figured you to be into cars."

"Only the sexy ones, and those are hot!" She said and quickly grabbed her purse and dug out her phone, then grabbed a trash bag they kept under the counter for the outside trash cans. "I have got to get a picture of this! I swear it'll never happen again and I can _not_ miss_ this_ opportunity. Come on!" She grabbed Michelle by the good arm and practically drug her out of the store. Good thing it was getting late enough that there wasn't anyone else there.

Laura then pulled her to the trashcan by the door and spun her around so that Michelle was in between her and the cars that had by that point parked right outside the doors. "Here," she thrust the bag into Michelle's hands. "You empty the trashcan and cover me so I can get a good pic."

Michelle just rolled her eyes. "Why don't you just go and ask them if they would mind if you took one?"

"Because I don't want them to think I'm some kind of crazy weirdo. Besides my daddy was a grease monkey, and he would be rolling in his grave if I didn't get a picture of these two beauties together."

"Lord..." Michelle rolled her eyes again and began to wrestle one armed with the trash can. Laura looked at her stunned, and gave her a disbelieving look, "Seriously?" Confused as to what the big damn deal was she returned the look with one of her own, "What? They're just cars, you see them all the time."

Laura rolled her eyes, clearly exasperated with the other girls lack of knowledge concerning the two gifts from god that sat now before her. "Not These cars! Do you have any idea how often you see these cars in public, let alone together? Especially here? Never, not ever in a million years will I get this chance again, not in this po-dunk town, so quit cock blockin me and help a sister out! And be quiet! They might hear you, cars have feelings too."

Jesus.

A few quiet clicks later and a quiet squeal told her that Laura had succeeded in getting her pictures. Then she quickly slipped her phone back into her pocket and helped Michelle with the trash.

They had just pulled the full bag out and Laura was about to put the new one in when they heard the doors open. Laura looked over to the cars. "Oh Holy Mother in heaven, They are gorgeous..." She whispered to Michelle. "So not fair...good looks and the nice cars." She sighed, "They have to be gay." She sighed again."Oh well, I know who's gonna be starring a leading role in my dreams tonight anyway."

Again Michelle rolled her eyes as she placed the top back on the can. Laura was practically drooling at this point. A little annoyed, Michelle opened the door and picked up the last garbage bag to take to the dumpster. Since Laura was obviously smitten by them, she could ring them up when they check out.

She turned around and almost ran right into one of the two men. She hadn't even heard them come up to the door. He was tall, maybe 6 feet, and muscular. His jeans seemed to hug some very well developed thighs and his arms were well toned. She might not like people in general but she wasn't blind, he was good looking. His short blonde hair framed a face with a strong jawline and deep blue eyes. Eyes that were filled with anger and disgust as his jaw twitched a little. He obviously didn't want to run into a nasty gas station garbage bag. "Sorry." Michelle mumbled and stepped around him. He seemed to watch her for a moment before he looked at the other man.

Not giving him a second thought, she began to walk around the building to the dumpsters placed at the side. "You know, it's not safe out here at night." Came a male's voice as the other man approached and they started to walk alongside her.

"It's not safe anywhere." She told him slightly annoyed. "But it's my job."

"Mind if I walk with you? The blond man asked.

"I'd rather you didn't." She told him sternly, now a little nervous. Eyeing them both she briefly contemplated going back into the store, they could be dangerous after all.

"I'd rather we did. You know, to protect you? I mean what kind of gentlebo- men,.. would we be if we didn't?" The second man said.

He seemed pretty sure of himself she observed. His face looked almost exactly like the blondes but didn't hold the same hardness, he seemed somewhat softer, happier, less intimidating. He had the same electric blue eyes, but his hair was a couple of inches longer and darker, more like a chestnut color, but the resemblance was uncanny, they had to be brothers...

Brothers...Mark.

She felt the familiar wetness gathering in her eyes and she quickly blinked them away. "Can't let you wander around alone out here," the brunette said charmingly. She wasn't falling for it however.

"And why should you care?" She snapped at him. "God, I'm just going to the dumpster." reaching into her pocket she realized her pepper spray was still in her purse. Damn it.

"Well, don't you just have a really Sunny disposition." The brunette said, causing the blonde to frown at him and he to smirk in return.

"Whatever." She mumbled at him as she reached the dumpster. If they killed her, they killed her, she decided she didn't much care either way anymore. Reaching the metal monster she frowned. Great, the damn lid was closed. Now would be a good time for them to slit her throat or something. After a few moments passed and no one made a move she figured they weren't going to.

Sighing with frustration she dropped the trash bag and tried to flip the large metal lid back. A task that was a pain in the ass to do with two good arms, nearly impossible with just one. She struggled with it a few times, trying to give it a good strong heave. Struggling to flip it far enough up to where it would fall backwards on it's own. She just couldn't get it that far up and it came crashing back down every time.

Hearing the men behind her chuckle, she stared at the dirty bin for a moment, anger, frustration, and grief all washed over her at the same time and she just lost it. She banged her fist against the metal and screamed in frustration, when that failed to quell her anger she began to kick the dumpster, hard and repeatedly to the point where her toes were starting to hurt, before she turned and slumped against the side of the building and slid to the ground and cried. Maybe coming to work tonight hadn't been such a great idea.

"What in Primus' name is wrong with it?"

"How am I supposed to know? Maybe its wiring is defective... Her attack on that container was hilarious though. Right up until she glitched. Primes gonna blame us."

"Why is it leaking?"

"Do I look like Jazz? I don't fragging know!"

"Pathetic."

"Both of you can just shut the hell up!" Laura suddenly snapped as she came around the corner from where she was spying. "It must be so nice to to be you! To not have a fucking care in the world, never knowing loss. To be able to afford those fancy cars and that massive ego, mocking those less fortunate than you!" She flared at them.

"Femme, we have lost more than you will ever understand." The blonde growled at her.

"Oh yeah right!" She flared. "You sure look like your suffering, how blind of me! That sure put things in perspective, Thank you! You jackass!" Laura moved around the two men. "For crying out loud, she just lost her brother. Would it kill you to think that maybe someone might have a problem instead of saying something is wrong with them? Fucking assholes." She moved next to Michelle and helped the still quietly sobbing woman to her feet. "You try losing your only brother, the only family you have in the whole universe and see how well you take it." She bent down and picked up the garbage bag Michelle had dropped, raised the lid on the dumpster and tossed the bag in, then let the lid fall closed with a bang before she guided Michelle inside. Now completely ignoring the two men behind them.

Laura was pissed. "Well that just proved to me a few things.. Good looks don't always equal good brains, and assholes can be beautiful and still be full of shit." She said once they were back in the store. She pulled out a folding chair from a niche in the counter and sat Michelle down in it. "Maybe you should go home sweety."

Michelle took a deep breath and suppressed the last of the sobs that tried to come up and wiped the tears away with her good arm. "No, I'm fine." She managed a small smile. "I think I might have needed that. It's just so hard."

"It does usually help to let go sometimes, not much, but it does a little. I understand, and seriously, ill cover for you if you want to go home."

There was a chime as the door swung open suddenly crashing into the stack of sodas behind it, causing Pepsi to spray everywhere as the brunette from outside came rushing in with a purpose. He easily cleared the counter and crashed into them both, knocking them all to the floor. They both struggled under his weight, "What the hell are-" Laura was cut off as a huge explosion lit up the night outside and the long row of windows along the front of the store shattered, flying inward and covering them all. The heat wave was immense and the man covered them both the best he could as both girls screamed in panic.

He glanced up quickly after the last of the glass quit flying at them and started cursing. "Tell me there's another way out of here! In the back, right?" They nodded together in shock. "Then _use it_!" He drug them to their feet and pushed them towards the back room as another explosion rang out, shaking the ground under their feet and causing shelves to collapse around them. "GO!" He roared at them! "And _don't stop running!_"

They didn't hesitate to do so as he turned back to face the other way. They took off running, Laura dragging Michelle by her good arm. "Pit be damned 'Cons!...It's about fraggin time they showed up." They heard him mumble as they turned the corner into the hallway.

To confused and scared they didn't even think, they just ran. As they entered the storage room there was a loud crash at the front of the building and the whole thing shook again. "What the fuck is going on!" Laura screamed while struggling to keep on her feet.

"I don't fucking know!" Michelle screamed back at her! Another crash from outside and the power died, plunging them into darkness. They slammed through the back door and almost ran into a cop car that came speeding around the side of the building. They quickly jumped back out of the way and the saleen mustang grazed by, barely missing the two women. It slammed on the brakes and spun around, skidding to a stop just a few yards away so that it's lights were facing them, blinding their eyes.

Quickly shielding themselves from the light, they heard another explosion out front and watched as a power pole fell over the store, lines sparking off of the roof. "Well isn't this convenient?" Laura sad. "For once there's actually a cop around when you need one."

Michelle however wasn't so sure. For some reason that car gave her a bad feeling as it stopped close enough to scare her, it's lights blinding her eyes. Seemed like even the police were stupid, driving like that could get someone killed.

From behind her, there were more explosions and crashes coming from the other side of the burning building. What in the hell was going on here? She was scared and confused the security alarm was blaring along with the explosions, so focused on the cacophony behind her that she barely noticed the police cruiser was now revving its engine threateningly. Even Laura wasn't so sure about it's presence now. "Is this guy crazy?" The cruiser continued to growl at them, the driver gunning the massive over clocked machine making the engine roar ferociously. "Come on we have to get away from here!"

They tried to run around the police car to get away but the cruiser had other ideas as it cut them off. "What the fuck asshole!" Laura snapped. Her eyes grew wide as it charged in towards them again. "He's going to fucking kills us!" It continued to lunge forward threateningly. Rushing them back toward the wall, they had no choice but to back away quickly, stumbling to keep from being hit by the insidious machine that was threatening to ram them both. "What are you _doing?_" Laura yelled. "Were innocent! We work here you idiot, Jesus! I'll have your fucking badge!"

They were so focused on the insane police cruiser trying to crush them and blinded by it's high beams that they didn't see the black GMC truck until it plowed into the cruiser. The crushing sound the impact made was like nothing they had ever heard before. The massive collision sent the car flying through the air before it rolled twice on it's side and landed in the salvage yard next door.

The TopKick screeched to a halt spinning around and sending gravel flying as it came to rest before them and the passenger door flew open. "Get in!" Mr. Black snapped at them from the drivers seat.

"Oh,_ hell_ no! I'm not getting in with you!" Laura snapped. "I'm not going anywhere with you!"

"You will get your fraggin' aft in, _now_, or I will personally _throw_ you in!"

"Go Laura! Now!" Michelle pushed her towards the truck. "He's serious."

"If he kills us it's your friggin fault." She mumbled as she quickly climbed into the big truck. Once they were both clear the door shut and he slammed on the gas. As they peeled out of the lot, sliding onto the road Michelle looked behind her to see the building was now completely destroyed. Only a couple of exterior walls standing and in seconds the burning ruins of the gas station were fading behind them.

Oddly, the two sports cars from earlier shot out from the burning wreckage as well and began to follow closely. Swerving around each other constantly and fighting for dominance on the road behind them. But thoughts of the two cars took flight as the police car came back into view. It was back.. How in the hell did it flip itself back over?

"Damn those Pit-spawned Cons and _that_ fragger especially!" Black snapped as he swerved around a sharp corner and took the truck up on two wheels before slamming back down again, both girls bounced around the cab like dodge balls. "Get him off our aft you morons!"

"You got some explaining to do buster!" Laura screeched at him as she gripped the oh shit bar. "What the fuck is going on!?"

"Just shut up and hold on." He growled at her as he pushed the truck even faster. Michelle screamed from the backseat as the police cruiser started firing on the sports cars and ducked behind the driver seat. "He's shooting at us!"

Speeding behind them the silver Corvette and the yellow Lamborghini were corralling the police car, swerving a deadly dance around it, blocking him from catching up and forcing the cruiser off the road. Were they crazy? They were all fucking crazy! Lord help her... Finally the two sportsters split up and flanked the cruiser. As the yellow one dropped back even with the police car the silver one pinned it in and they acted in a blur of motion.

Swiftly the yellow car hit the cruiser hard in the side panel while the silver feinted and fell back, the cruiser was forced to the side and careened off the road, it tumbled down the hill the silver corvette had been blocking from view. It rolled over several more times before it crashed into a tree further down the incline and disappeared from sight.

Both of the sleek performance cars seemed to eat up the road as they sped up, easily gaining on the big black truck and falling into their earlier playful positions. The silver swerving around the yellow, almost tauntingly, daring to tag it several times before being forced aside by the monster Lambo.

Michelle swallowed hard as she looked at the man behind the wheel, but he kept his gaze in front of him as he drove. Was he a convicted criminal or something? Is that why he was running from the cops? That officer obviously thought she and Laura were a part of Mr. Black's operation. Whatever that was, And the two in the cars behind them were obviously in cahoots with him as well. At some point Laura had crawled into the back seat and curled up. She was deathly quiet, her face pale and eyes wide with fear. "Were all going to die..." She said softly.

"You are not going to die." He told her with exasperation, then he was quiet again. He seemed to be lost in thought for a while as he drove. "Primus..." He finally growled out. His voice now filled with resignation, and was that regret? "It is no longer safe for you out here... I'm taking you back to the base, they will decide there what needs to be done next."

"What? Why? The only thing I'm not safe from is you! You and your crazy friends back there!" She pointed to the sports cars swerving all over the road behind them. "First, the gas station gets demolished, and then you three are running cops off of the road! Granted his driving skills leave a lot to be desired but he was still was a cop!" Michelle exploded.

"So you assume. There is much you do not know." He told her. "You are coming with me to the base."

"You can just let me out right here." Laura told him. "I'm not going anywhere with you creeps." She tried the door handle only to find it locked and no mechanism to unlock it.

"That is where you are mistaken. You are now a target as well. You are both coming with me."

"Holy Shit!" Laura exclaimed, "Its a fucking Kidnapping truck! There's no locks back here!" She scratched at the door latch, handle anything she could find as she freaked out.

"The hell we are!" Michelle snapped. She tried to open the door, but found that it was locked just as Lauren had said. "Damn you! Open this door!"

"No." he told Michelle before turning to the femme in the back, "female, do not think that I will not restrain you if you do not cease scratching up my interior!" Lauren held her hands up in defeat, but continued to eye him wearily.

"Fuck you..." Michelle whispered, collapsing against the seat in defeat as well, they were going to fast to jump out anyway. Hopefully they were going to the base like he said and not some empty field in the woods where he would kill them. She didn't care if she died but she didn't want Laura to be hurt. Now she was scared, so very scared. She had no idea what was going to happen.

They drove quietly for awhile and she could feel him watching her. Every where his gaze landed her skin tingled. "I won't harm you." He told her quietly. "Or your friend. Believe me when I tell you I am only doing this out of concern for your safety."

"And why should I?" She snapped at him. "What reason have you given me t trust you?"

"Because Mark would want you to." She spun her head around towards him, but he steadily kept his gaze on the road.

Deep down she desperately wanted to believe he was telling her the truth. She wanted to believe that her brother had known this man, had worked with him, and had trusted him. Because if he did then that meant that she could trust him as well. Mark didn't trust people easily, so if this man was indeed counted among the few her brother held in that small group, then maybe she could give him the benefit of the doubt. She wanted to believe he wasn't the bad guy here, there was something about him that kept niggling at her to trust him. So she would give him some proverbial rope, and hope he didn't hang her with it.

"Fine." She agreed in a soft voice. "But I want my dog."

"That is not advisable, the base is not a safe place for a small mammal."

"I don't care!" She flared at him. "She is all I have left and I am _not_ going to abandon her!"

"Do I have any say in this?" Laura spoke up from the back seat.

"No." He snapped at her.

"Michelle, your new pal there is a bully." She grumbled.

"I'm not back there scratching up your upholstery now am I?" He argued back, to which Laura simply made a snide face and rolled her eyes.

"Please, I'll go with you, just let me have my dog." Michelle whispered, ignoring the woman in the back seat.

He closed his eyes for a moment. "Oh for the love of Primus, Fine." He growled out, turning the truck in the direction of her neighborhood. "Not like anything else can go wrong. But if the commander says no, you have to deal with him."

"Deal."

Michelle leaned back against the supple seats as she looked out the window. Man, she was really starting to wish that she had stayed home today.


	5. Chapter 5

Michelle quickly slid out of the truck as soon as it came to a halt in her drive way. The two cars that were stopping along side the road out front looked completely out of place in the small middle class neighborhood. The word Ostentatious came to mind.. "I'll be right back." She said as she tried to shut the massive door, but was surprised when a hand on the other side forced it back open.

Laura was immediately pushing her way out of the vehicle. "Oh hell no! You are not leaving me here alone with this crazy asshole!" She griped as she crawled out of the truck, and before Michelle could protest was standing, arms crossed, before her. "I'm coming with you!" Michelle had a feeling she wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"Fine." she said, then turned and walked towards the house.

The other woman keeping pace beside her whispered conspiratorially, "Your're not actually going to go with them are you? Do you seriously trust those people?"

Rolling her eyes, the only answer she could think of was, "Do you actually think they will let me say no?"

The other girl looked thoughtful before adding, "We could call the cops."

"Laura, these people are not normal, or haven't you noticed?" she said heatedly, "They don't appear to have a single problem with running, either away from, or into the police or anyone else in their way. You saw what they did to that cop car."

"So, you're actually going with those morons?" She asked incredulously, just as they made it to the front door. But as Michelle put the key in the lock a voice from behind made them jump in surprise.

"Actually, you both are."

They turned at once to see the brown haired brother standing just behind them.

"And Ouch!" He said to Lauren, taking on a look of mock hurt before placing a hand over his heart, "You wound me!... the name happens to be Sides sweetspark," he said to Laura with a wink, "not moron." The girl actually blushed and turned away, but she didn't say another word.

Michelle groaned. Great, not _another_ weird name... What kind of name is 'Sides' anyway? Maybe they were using all of these funky code names to hide their true identities. That would make some sense if they made it a habit to smash cop cars all over the place. She would hide her real name too.

"You need to hurry up. We don't have much time." Oh, was Romeo addressing her now? God, if she rolled her eyes one more time they might fall out and _why?_, why exactly did they need to hurry up? No one was chasing them anymore. The only reason that they had been in the first place was because of them!

Nothing that happened tonight made any sense to her... At all. Why did the gas pumps explode outside the station? And _how_ was the building nearly flattened? What could have possibly caused all that damage? Oh! and How in the hell had 'Sides' managed to get out of there without a scratch on him, he had run back towards the fire and explosions! She had so many questions, but was sure she wouldn't get any answers from anyone here.

She opened the door and led the way into her small house. It was dark inside, so she flipped the first switch she came to. Just as the room filled with light the sound of four paws hitting carpet could be heard down the hall as Sheeva came careening around the corner and plowed into her legs.

Hopping up and down and barking excitedly, the dog was ecstatic, whining happily and licking her hands. Sheeva always greeted her like she had been gone for ages instead of a few hours, and she loved the furry beast for it. Michelle rubbed her head and scratched behind her ears, she was happy to see her too. Sides however had an odd look on his face as he watched the interchange. "We detoured nearly twenty miles to come here, and retrieve that!?" He asked, confused, and watching the wiggling mass of dog flesh he frowned.

It had been a rhetorical question she was sure, or at least she was treating it like it was. Asshole. This guy didn't seem like he had a lot of experience caring for something besides himself so Michelle ignored his question and walked into the kitchen at the back of the house.

As quickly as she could she gathered a few items they would need: Dog food, some of Sheeva's toys and her bowls of course. She put the toys and bowls in a plastic bag then looked in dismay at the large bag of dog food in the corner. There was no way she was going to be able to pick that up with one good arm and walk the dog at the same time.

Sides didn't seem ready to offer any kind of help either. He even had an amused expression on his face as he watched her struggle for a solution. Laura however, took pity on her, and as Sheeva nearly tipped her over again in excitement, she picked up the bag. "Stuck up asshole," she murmured where he could hear her. Sides smile fell into a frown so fast it was nearly comical and he adopted that pissy, guarded expression she had first attributed to his brother. It was almost funny... Almost.

Sheeva suddenly stopped her excited hopping around and cocked her head at the back door. Leaving the women wondering what had caught the dog's attention. The black and white pit stood there frozen, staring at the doggie door intently before slowly approaching. Her head lowered and her floppy ears flattened as the hair raised along her back and she let out a low growl.

Michelle was startled to say the least, Sheeva never acted like this, but she was snarling at the plastic flap now at the bottom of her back door like it was something dangerous. Her lips raised in a viscous teeth baring show of aggression that was really starting to scare her. Michelle stopped what she was doing and looked at the dog, her fear rising. Laura caught her expression and, eyes glued to the snarling pit, murmured, "Please tell me there's a psychotic squirrel in your back yard and she does that all the time."

"I don't know." She replied. "But something is." The dog's growling slowly got louder and her lips curled further over her teeth before she let out a series of nasty barks, snapping each one off with another rolling snarl.

"Is that thing always like that?" Sides asked curiously.

"No, she's not." Michelle didn't know what to do, for once she was actually scared of her. She began to walk over to the dog to get a leash on her so she could pull her away from the door, hoping she could do it without loosing any fingers. The hair on her arms started to rise as she got closer to the dog, and subsequently the door, when she suddenly felt a firm grip on her arm. "Get out of here." Sides told her, now staring at the door himself.

Michelle thought he was looking at her dog with that worried expression and hurried to reassure him, "She won't hurt me." She didn't want them telling her the dog couldn't come with her because it was dangerous..

But he only shook his head, eyes still glues to the door, "It's not the animal I'm worried about. Now, GO!" He yelled at them.

Before anyone could reply the back door exploded inward, knocking the women to the floor, the door splintering into a million wooden pieces and pelting them all with debris. Shell shocked once more she stared in horror at what came barreling through the door next. Not sure what she was seeing, Michelle grabbed Laura, who was also staring wide eyed at the giant twisting metal object working it's way into her home, and they scrambled to get up.

Just as she regained her feet, she was shoved out of the way as the thing came sliding into the kitchen, ripping up tile and plywood as it moved with its sharp metal claws. She turned around in time to see Sides being swept under what looked like a large robot cat? With guns? On it's ass?

Stunned, she watched in horror as the thing used its massive paws to pin Sides to the floor. He struggled beneath it's undulating weight, snarling at the machine above him and making strange grating noises at the cat.

She thought for sure the man would be crushed or shredded by the sharp claws and teeth the monster continuously swiped and bit at him with, but oddly enough, as hard as the machine was trying to kill him, and it was definitely trying to kill him, it didn't seem to be doing any damage.

Sides was almost laughing at the giant metal monster as he held its jaws inches from his face. She realized he was trying to keep it's focus on him more than anything. He was giving them a chance to escape. "Get out of here!" He yelled at the dumbstruck women, but Sheeva chose that moment to launch herself onto the things's neck. "Sheeva, NO!" But it was too late, teeth and claws dug in as she latched onto its neck with that iron grip so feared by Pitts and sparks began to fly from the wires she was shredding. Paws and legs fought for grip on the things slick frame as the dog continued to hold its tight grip on the monsters throat.

"What the hell is that thing!" Michelle screamed over the noise as it shook it's head, ignoring Sides completely and trying to dislodge the dog. Sheeva held firm though, her jaws locked tight and ignored the blood coming from her mouth as the thing's metal skin cut into her lips and gums. She clamped down even harder if it was possible.

"Get the frag out of here!" Sides screamed at them again. "GO! Get to the truck!"

Finally the thing managed to get a solid hit in on the pit bull and slung the unconscious dog off. Just as Sheeva hit the kitchen wall it grabbed Sides by the arm "Frag!" He screamed as he too flew through the air, straight through the swinging door and into the dining room out of sight.

It swung it's massive head around and fixed Michelle with it's malevolent gaze. A single red eye narrowed, and with a metallic growl, it stalked in towards her. It's metal tail lashing side to side like a lion.

It's going to eat her. Thinking quickly Laura did the only thing she could from where she stood to the side, seeing that the thing was clearly focused on Michelle she got a better grip on the bag of dog food and swung it at the things head.

The cat's feral roar was nearly deafening as it went crazy trying to dislodge the paper bag that was now lodged on its head. The sharp angles of his frame speared through the paper/plastic sheet and hung tight, causing the metal animal to do just as a real cat would and completely flip out.

"RUN!" she screamed as she grabbed Michelle's arm tight and tried to drag her out of the house. But Michelle wouldn't budge, "No!" She snapped, pulling her arm free. "I'm not leaving without my dog damn it!"

"I'll buy you a new damn dog! Let's go!"She tried again to pull the other woman out of her house but she pulled away.

"NO!" Michelle rushed forward to get to the stunned animal as she lay bleeding on the kitchen floor. "Come on, girl." she tried to pull the dog up but she just lay there whimpering. "You gotta get up! Please, get up..." Sheeva raised her head and thumped her tail on the floor but didn't budge. The big machine was still raising hell as it continued to roll around, now back outside where it had flung itself through the wall fighting to clear its vision. She didn't have time for this. And she wasn't leaving her fucking dog damn it!

Now growling in defiance, Michelle somehow managed to slide her good arm under the dog and lifted her front half over her shoulder enough to pick her up. Staggering under the awkward weight of the sixty plus pound dog, she got to her feet only to find herself face to face with the cat thing again. And it did not look happy. Before its giant claw could complete its ark and slice her to pieces a thick mop came flying down on top of the thing's head, cracking the lens on its eye and promptly broke in two. The pissed off pussy swung it's gaze around to Laura, who now stood weaponless and wide eyed, and lashed out at her with its tail, the metal links made an awful crunch as they hit her body, knocking her away.

Sides came flying in from nowhere with a battle cry and wrapped himself around the thing's neck much like the dog had, knocking it off of it's feet and sending them both skidding across the floor before crashing through another wall.

He was really starting to loose his patience. This would be so much easier if he just transformed. "You know, you two are really making it hard for me to follow my orders! Get out!" He yelled as he hung onto the things neck while it once again fought to dislodge an unwanted leech and get up at the same time.

Laura groaned from the floor as she struggled to get back onto her feet but she finally managed and limping, made her way towards Michelle. "Come on! You got the dog now we need to get out of here!"

"If you think I can't kick your aft in this form, Ravage, you are _so_ wrong." Sides told the thing as he reached out with one arm and ripped the red optic out of its socket causing the thing to wail and struggle even more to dislodge him. Sides released his hold on the things neck and rolled along the floor away from it before springing to his feet and pushing the women in front of him as he ran towards the front door. "Do you two seriously have a death wish? When I say move, _move!_"

All of a sudden there was a loud crash outside and that garbled electronic sound mixed with the pandemonium in the kitchen was deafening as the house shook violently. The electricity was failing like it had at the gas station and the lights began to flicker before going out completely.

Plunged into darkness, with the metal panther behind them and the sounds of a monster truck rally out in front of them the girls were frozen. Not sure which way to go. The choice of forward or back was about to be taken from them however, as the ceiling cracked down the center and half of the roof was ripped clean off. Leaving a clear view of the night sky above, they shrieked in fear as they peered through the gaping hole to see two sets of gleaming red eyes. Each encased in the shadowy form of a metal giant.

Michelle was so stunned she couldn't move as a giant hand reached in towards her. She held her dog even closer to her and tried to back away from the monstrous looking appendage. It had a palm and five digits but that was where the similarities ended. It was like being in some futuristic horror movie. Every exposed inch of it looked razor sharp and ready to rend flesh from bone. Those red lights though, she had seen them before... On the hilltop the day Will had given her the worst news of her life..

"OK, I've had about enough of this!" Sides complained as he was tossed from the kitchen yet again, sliding to a stop on his back in front of the girls. He glared up at the metal beings above him and smirked before disappearing into a shower of tiny lights. Just poof, gone. Michelle and Laura looked at where he had stood in horrified shock, then refocused their attention on the hand still reaching into the house. They could deal with all the 'What just happends?' later.

"What the fuck are those things?" Laura said, her voice full of fear.

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" Michelle replied just as scared as their backs hit the wall.

It looked like they were arguing with each other over which one of the women they were supposed to take. The bigger one kept pointing at Michelle, while the other gestured to Laura. When they decided to just take them both, the hands came back in. Before they got far enough though the sound of a powerful engine roared to life and a giant swirling mass of shining silver metal came flying in over the girls heads, unfolding in midair and rearranging itself to resemble a man with out-stretched arms. He plowed into the other two like a freight train, sending them all tumbling out of sight.

The ground shook again, startling the two women into motion. They had to get the hell out of the house before it collapsed, the whole structure was groaning and as much as they wanted to hide somewhere inside, it was clear that the house was _not_ the safest place right now. The door wasn't easy to get open either, the structure was all warped now and the frame was pinning the door closed. They managed to pry the wood loose enough to slip through and they were running down her steps.

Michelle struggled under the weight of her dog and Laura held her side where the robot's tail had hit her. They hobbled as fast as they could out into the yard and through the rain, away from the sound of battle. Where the hell were all her neighbors? She was quickly becoming soaked. You would think people would be everywhere trying to see what was happening! She might not have been the most social neighbor but damn! It was so dark out she could barely see across her own yard to the road. Power was out over the entire area, plunging everything into inky darkness.

Trying to get her bearings Michelle looked around, barely recognizing her own property. Giant gouges were raked into the earth. Deep tracks left by those machines littered the ground, making deep grooves and pits. The whole front of her house was blackened by God only knew what and her driveway was just.. gone. Several busted water pipes were now spraying water high into the air.

Which, she realized, was why she thought it was raining when they come outside...

She snapped out of her stunned disbelief when something that looked like a giant metal foot slammed into the ground in front of them. They looked up in time to see another set of red lights turn down toward them. "Shit! Run!" Laura yelled, pulling the heavily burdened Michelle along. They ran through the soaked grass and mud dodging giant feet as the monsters limbs slammed into the ground all around them, the impact throwing more dirt and muddy water into the air. It swiped at them with its long claw like hands as it slipped and stumbled after them.

Michelle slipped in the slick muddy earth thanks to the awkward weight she was carrying and they both slid to the ground. She kept a tight hold on the injured animal as they struggled through the muck, Lauren tried to pull her to her feet but it was too late. The robot had them trapped, there was no way out and as its ugly face came closer a red beam of light emitted from his eyes and ran over their bodies.

Laura watched the light travel from her toes to her face before realizing the thing was scanning them. Like fucking produce, "Oh hell no." She wasn't sure what it was after but she damn sure wasn't on the menu.

Determined not to go down without a fight, she dug her hands into the earth beneath her and gathered handfuls of mud. As soon as she had a good amount of the slimy stuff she threw first one handful then the other at its eyes. She thought if she could blind it they might just have a chance to get away. But as soon as the first clod of saturated earth was lobbed into it's eyes he freaked out. Swiping at its face in disgust and snarling before it lifted its fist in anger and slammed it down not two feet from her head.

Convinced they would both die now for sure, they were shocked when a bright blue blade was suddenly thrust through the giants shoulder plates. Glowing blue liquid ran in rivulets down its chest and at that moment it was the most beautiful thing on earth to Laura.

The red eyed monster had no time to react as the blade was suddenly jerked upward, severing the massive joint in its shoulder at the same time a hand clamped down on its wrist. The monster was quickly spun around, its arm ripped clean off.

She could see the giants attacker now. The massive silver figure stood over him with a feral look in his eyes, which she actually noticed were blue... The new bot wasted no time in using the monsters severed limb as a weapon and steady blows reined down on the red eyed machine before the blue one jerked out of the way. A single shot blasted past blue, singeing his armor and hitting red square in the chest. The blast sent red flying as blue looked down at his chest armor and the black smudge left by the blast. "Damn it Sunny! You fragging did that on purpose!"

"Pay Back, Stupid!" came a grave reply from somewhere else.

Time to go, Laura snapped Michelle out of her stunned stupor and dragged the woman through the ditch and up to the road only to find the three vehicles they had come with already gone. "Oh come on! Don't tell me they ditched us! God damn cowards!" Laura wailed as she looked for the cars and truck.

Again she pulled the heavily burdened Michelle along. She tried once to take the dog from her but the girl wouldn't relinquish her hold. That dog was like a life line to the other woman and no one was taking it from her. Laura could respect that.

Trying to make your way through a giant robot death match was not easy and they were stopped again as another foot came down in front of them, this time the one to stop them had a set of bright blue eyes, just like the silver one, Laura thought. Michelle, however started to shake in her arms as she gazed up at the giant robot. She could see why too, this one was extremely intimidating with all those cannons and rocket launchers. That thing could single-handedly start world war three.

Memories were flooding Michelle's mind, causing her to tremble as she remembered her fall from the cliff, and then something catching her. The black form before her was imposing and familiar as it raised it's armored arm and took aim at them. They had a split second to wonder if it was going to hurt before the machine fired three huge grenades in their direction.

Gasping as the missiles passed cleanly overhead, they watched as the explosives hit the red eyed robot behind them, knocking it over with an earth-shaking rumble. The blue eyed one took another shot at it as it tried to get up but it only stumbled before fleeing into the night.

"Punk-ass Decepticon." A voice rumbled above them, a voice Michelle recognized. Stunned she looked up at the large robot thing, unable to move. As she stared at him two more blue eyed bots came from around what was left of her house. One of the massive figures walked on two legs and had bright yellow armor. The canary yellow paint was scraped and charred horribly along one side making it look even scarier. The other one was the silver one from earlier with the scorch mark on its chest, he skated around the yellow one on his wheeled feet as they made their way toward the girls.

Just as the two made it to the front yard Michelle's front door was blown open as the robot cat burst out of the house and tried to make a run for it. The silver one was too fast though and whirling quickly around on his feet he bent down and snagged the pissed off feline by the back of its neck. "Sorry Ravage, no cats allowed," he Tsk'ed at the cat before grabbing its tail with his other hand and attempting to rip it in half. But he took one look at the women's horrified faces and groaned. "Oh for Primus sake! Fine." He knocked the cat into the side of the building absently before giving it a good shake and chucking it as hard as he could into the woods behind the house. "Have a nice flight!" he yelled pleasantly. Again Michelle knew that voice.

"Idiot." Said the yellow one.

"Oh come on Sunny! Didn't you ever wonder if Ravage could fly?"

"No." Three loud thuds came from the direction the cat was thrown and the yellow robot actually smiled,"But I think its safe to say he can bounce." The silver one clapped the other on the shoulder, earning him a smack from yellow. "Watch the paint Fragger! And don't call me that!"

"Come on, the glitches have all run away. I'm sure we can still catch them if we hurry!" He spun a half circle on his wheeled feet, obviously about ready to give chase to the fleeing robots.

"You will stay put." The black one snapped. "The orders were not to chase the decepticons. The orders were to watch over the femme."

Orders? What orders? From who? Michelle felt numb over what had just happened. After struggling under the weight of her dog for what felt like forever she collapsed to her butt on the ground. She was going crazy, she had to be going crazy.

The black one looked down at them for a moment before letting out what sounded like a frustrated sigh. It turned around and started folding in on itself, parts and pieces spun around each other, coming apart and back together again, ultimately reforming into the black GMC TopKick she had been driving around in. It was Will's truck, the robot was Will's fucking truck...

"Your taking the fun out of this Ironhide." The silver one muttered as it and the yellow one also seemed to collapse...into the sports cars.

Michelle wasn't sure how much more she could take. Laura was making strange noises next to her. "Did you know about this?" She choked out finally.

"No, I didn't!" Michelle snapped as she shifted the hold on her dog, holding her tighter. She needed something normal to hold onto right now. Sheeva just leaned her head into Michelle's neck, leaving a streak of blood on her shirt, and whimpered slightly.

Suddenly the form of the man she knew as Mr. Black appeared in front of her. He tried to take Sheeva from Michelle but she wouldn't let the dog go. "Give it to me." He snapped.

"Sheeva is not an it!" Michelle snapped back, her nerves finally breaking. "She's a she! And I'm not handing her over to you!" She held the dog even tighter, tears running down her face. "She's hurt and I have to get her to a vet!"

"What is so important about the silly creature?" The yellow one snapped. "What was the point of us risking our hides to come here for that thing anyway?"

"SHE IS NOT A THING!" Michelle screamed. "She is not a thing..."

**-Ironhide, we need to go unless you want another fight.-** Sides spoke over the comms **-they might come back at any moment. You know we're always up for scrapping Cons but if you want to get her out of here we need to leave.-**

Sunny pinged in then. **- Just drop the thing, someone else can deal with it.-**

"Come on, Sunny." Sides spoke up. "Give the animal some credit. It tried to take on Ravage, that's a pretty impressive feat for something so small."

The yellow line backer vented angrily, "_Don't call me that!_"

"Both of you be quiet!" Ironhide told them, obviously loosing his patience. He knelt down next to Michelle who clung to the dog with everything she had in her. He held out his arms as non threateningly as he could, "Give her to me." He said in a softer tone. "I'll carry her. She is obviously to heavy for you." The other two cars were stunned into silence. Neither could imagine letting those dirty humans ride inside them, but the hairy beast was unthinkable.

"No, I don't believe you, you're going to leave her here. I won't let you leave her here."

"I won't leave her, I promise." Again he reached for the dog and this time Michelle let him take her and he lifted the dog up effortlessly and carried her to the truck. The back door swung open on it's own and after a moment of hesitation, and a grimace on his face, he laid the injured dog on the back seat. Michelle quickly climbed in and sat beside her as Laura crawled into the front passenger seat with a "I can't believe I'm doing this shit..." Once the women were inside the human man disappeared and the three vehicles sped off. Once again leaving ruins behind them.

.

.

Ironhide was furious. This was twice now! Twice those pit be damned 'Cons had snuck up on them! It was inexcusable!** -Jazz!-** He roared over the comms. He was so mad that he didn't even make sure it was a private line.

**-Primus Hide! Make a mech loose his hearing why dontcha!-**

**-Those good for nothing, slag blasted, pit be damned 'Cons managed to get the jump on us _twice_ now! You think you can explain to me how they managed to do that?-**

**-Wha?-**

**-Ironhide, what's happened?-** Came Prime's voice on the line. There was a tell tale crackling and he knew Jazz was at work making sure this was an Autobot only conversation.

He regained his temper with enormous effort. **-The femme went to her place of employment-** he began but Ratchet suddenly cut him off..

**-That fragging femme! I told her to stay at home and rest! Why can't anyone do as they are told! When I get my servos on her-**

**-Enough.-** Prime told him with a sigh. **-Continue Ironhide.-**

**-She went to her place of employment at the fuel dispensary where we made contact with three 'Cons.. Managed to get her safely away only to be ambushed again at her residence.-** He let out his own anger filled sigh. **-We were forced to blow cover. I take full responsibility. We are bringing her and her co-worker back to base. Sir. That was six 'Cons, plus Ravage, and we didn't see any of them coming.-**

**-That's not good.-** Bumblebee said. The youngling still couldn't talk through his vocalizer but his comm worked just fine.

**-You think?-**

**-Are there any damages or injuries?-** Prime asked.

**-Did you mean besides Sunny's paint job?-** Sideswipe cut in.

**-Don't call me that! And its your fault I look like this!-**

**-Just keep making left turns, nobody will notice.-**

**-Besides the idiots paint...Both buildings were ruined. The refueling station was in a remote location and Sides cut the power in her neighborhood so it is unlikely that anyone saw anything they could make sense of. No civilians were spotted at either location however so it is doubtful that we were seen. To us and the humans just minor dents and scrapes, but her animal needs assistance. It's wounded pretty seriously.-** There was a stunned silence on the line. Not a single one of them spoke.

**-That fragger jus say he's carryin an injured earth animal? In his chassis?-** Jazz finally asked, stunned. **-Ol' Hide finally slipped a gear.-**

**-Ironhide when you come in I want you in the med-bay for a full medical.-** Ratchet told him.

**-I'm fine!-** He snapped. **-Just find someone who can work on an animal. A canine.-**

**-Sir.-** Sideswipe cut in, his tone surprisingly serious. **-The beast tried to protect the femme from Ravage, that's how it got hurt. I also saw how attached she is to it-** He sent a data burst to Prime, showing him everything Sides had witnessed concerning the girl from the moment he met her at the gas station. **-If something happens to it she believes she has nothing left.-** What the... Sideswipe was vouching for the thing? Maybe Ratchet was right, maybe he did need a medical.

**-Very well.-** Came Prime's voice. **-I'll have Major Lennox find someone and have two rooms prepared.-**

**-Ah still think one ah his gears slipped.-** Jazz muttered before they cut the connection.

The rest of the drive to the base was uneventful, besides the twins causing mayhem on the road in their ever ongoing shenanigans, but Ironhide kept a watchful optic out for trouble anyway. Both at his surroundings and on the femme in the back seat, trying desperately to comfort her pet. The girl had lost so much so fast. In less than a week she had lost everything she had known, her only family, her job, and now her home. Suddenly he knew Sideswipe was right. If the animal didn't make it, he was fairly sure she would snap. She had nothing normal left to hold on to.


	6. Chapter 6

The mood in the large medical bay they were shown to after arriving on base was tense. Although she had been hoping against hope that her canine friend was not as injured as she feared, fate it seemed was not so inclined to humor her.

Sheeva had suffered from far more serious injuries than she had wanted to believe. Aside from the gashes she caused herself by clamping down on the large cats neck, the robot, Ratchet, had informed her that she had several broken ribs as well as a punctured lung, a concussion, some severe internal swelling, and the list just went on. He and the human, Doctor Casey, had jumped right in though and were still working tirelessly to save her.

The view wasn't optimal from her position on the high table across the room, but she kept quiet. Occasionally a flash of black and white fur could be seen from the exam table as the man and his much taller companion moved around it, reaching for tools and other supplies. She had at first wondered what a giant robot could possibly do to help such a small animal but had been pleasantly surprised to see how well he and the veterinarian worked together.

She noticed her ass was beginning to go numb again from sitting in the metal folding chair so long, but she would be damned if she made a peep again and gave them a reason to make her leave.

Sitting in the flimsy chair over ten feet up in the air, perched on a giant metal table may have been helping keep her still as well. Once or twice her attempts to return blood flow to her toes by adjusting her sitting position had her chair squeaking obnoxiously. But a glance or two of annoyance from the search and rescue robot and she decided the limbs could just damn-well go numb. She certainly didn't want them to be distracted by her racket while they worked on her companion.

She had been reluctant to hand over the canine at first. Afraid to let her go, but not about to walk away from her furry companion, she demanded that they let her stay in the room. Reluctantly, they agreed and she'd handed the canine over to Doctor Casey, who was more than ready to get started. Apparently he was a veterinarian who worked with the military's canine units across the base. He'd been on site when Ironhide reported that they were inbound with two human females and an injured animal and he had stayed to help. She owed him a thanks.

She listened to them both rattle off medical jargon as she was escorted to another giant table by Jazz, a small silver robot-err Autobot, he had called himself, whatever _that_ was, where she would be out of the way, but still able to stay near by.

Not much of what the two medics said as they worked made sense to her, but she got the impression that they were unsure if she would make it. That was some really serious damage that she hadn't been able to see outwardly. She simply hoped her companion didn't pay for her ignorance...after all, in a situation like this, every second mattered.

A folding chair had been provided for her by a smiling Jazz once she was atop the medical table he had shown her too, the thing was huge. At least ten feet wide and long enough for one of those things to lay on. A ladder was attached to the side and she had made quick use of it.

She silently thanked the generous machine for his help and he surprised her with a gentle wink in return. They all seemed so... well, _human_. Even the peevish one working on her Sheeva she realized as she watched the human doctor prep and run an IV into Sheeva's front leg.

The grouchy ass robot medic didn't think she should stay and watch and after conceding to her demands had told her in no uncertain terms that she had to sit down and be quiet, or he would make her leave. So that's exactly what she did. She sat quietly out of the way, and watched.

She couldn't loose her friend, Sheeva was all Michelle had left from her old life. The thought of loosing not only her best friend, but the last real tie she had to her brother was... well it was just incomprehensible.

She felt kind of numb, like something was turned off inside as she watched them move around the large metal table. Her canine companion continued to lay still as they worked to fix her. It was all almost surreal. Like it was happening to someone else, she was in a daze as she waited for them to finish.

Maybe she was in shock. That would make sense after the last few days. Her teeth would clatter as chills racked her body, but she said nothing, nor did she move. She wouldn't give them any reason to make her leave. She couldn't. She couldn't leave her dog. Part of her really felt like as long as she didn't look away from that table, everything would be alright.

She may not have been able to see everything that was happening on the exam table from where she sat, but she didn't need to. She just had to keep her eyes focused on that spot just beyond the talking machine, where she knew Sheeva was laying, and everything would be alright.

Another part of her however knew that it was all bull, telling herself nothing would ever be alright again, but she squashed it down, she couldn't think like that, not now. So she ignored those dark feelings in favor of the nothingness that had slowly filled her as the hours passed.

Shock was wonderful, she decided. Not ready to deal with reality yet, the emptiness inside her was far more welcome. All those choking emotions blissfully absent. No hysterics or crying, no despair or freaking out. Not about the gas station or her home, not even the killer robot cat in her burned down house. Nothing else mattered, just her, that table across the room, and Sheeva. She would deal with the rest later.

She knew it was all there, just under the surface, but she steadily ignored it. She knew she should probably be freaking out and feeling overwhelmed but she wasn't ready to deal with any of it yet. Freaking out would have to wait. She needed Sheeva to be ok first.

Her life was so completely fucked up right now... She was sitting on a giant table, in a strange military hangar on a top secret military base in the middle of God's nowhere, surrounded by a bunch of giant robots, and watching as a metal man and his human sidekick Minnie-me operated on her mangled dog. All this while miles away her house and belongings burned to the ground because of a giant alien death match, along with her job and life as she knew it.

And as if all that wasn't enough.. She still had to have her own exam by the grouchy ass, Ratchet. Will had also mentioned she would need to speak with the Prime. The largest, most powerful being she had ever seen in her life.

Once she was ready of course... which she decided might be never...

That was one intimidating piece of machinery, she hadn't had time or energy yet to think about what to do. Everything had just happened so fast and only now Michelle was able to think back on it.

They had finally passed through the high security gates of the base, barely slowing down as the massive electric panels rolled open. Two checkpoints later they were speeding across the wide strip of tarmac, heading toward the hangars in the back.

Many buildings of varying size passed by as they picked up speed. Storage facilities, barracks, and a few small hangers, some open others not, all looked the same as they flew by. One long blur of uniform color.

Soldiers hastily moved out of their way as they left the taxi-way and approached the largest of the hangars. A massive steel structure, at least 4, maybe 5 stories high with equally large sliding doors loomed before them and after everything she had seen, it left her wondering, 'What in gods name did they have that could possibly need that much space?'

As they pulled in, the observation deck lay straight ahead, built halfway up into the opposite wall it was the first thing she noticed. Considering her current company's towering height it must come in handy if you need a face to face with a 25ft tall robot.

A metal stairway ran up along the same wall, leading up to the catwalk just outside the recessed observation room. Dozens of uniformed people rushed around inside, handing off files and envelopes, but it all quickly faded from view as they pulled further into the building and she took in the rest of the room. Her eyes shot open at the sight of so many metal giants.

They were all so much larger than life. Each one like something out of a science fiction movie. All strong lines and sharp edges, they were built like humans in shape she noticed. It had been dark at her home and she hadn't gotten a clear look at them, but now... The proportions were wrong but not by much. Even their armor seemed to mimic musculature, she could even see glimpses of the mechanical body beneath the armor when they moved just right. Whoever had made them certainly knew what they were doing. Probably Chinese...

They kept their distance, but watched as we took in our surroundings from the safety of the truck. No, she corrected herself, Not a truck, Ironhide, one of them. He waited patiently, though it was only seconds it felt much longer to her as she took them all in...

One stood out from the rest though, Literally. He was nearly twenty feet taller than the others, his glossy red and blue armor flashed in the light as he shifted his stance. He slowly lowered himself into a kneeling position and nodded a welcome to them.

Though he was slightly less intimidating in this position, the large bot's power radiate from him in waves. There was no question in her mind that this was their leader. Had to be, Mark had called him 'the Big Boss,' and she could see why. He would be terrifying if it weren't for his kind eyes. He looked down on them with understanding and compassion... How could you convey so much emotion with such a fleeting look? Her attention shifted again as one of them came nearer.

The first to actually approach, he was much smaller than any of the others, maybe only 13 feet at most. He was sleek and silver, with four sharp fingers on each hand he would be scary as well if not for the casual way he moved and the crooked smile on his visored face. She couldn't see his blue eyes though the visor that hid them glowed brightly with the color, but she noticed he had two small protrusion from his helm.

Again it was hard to tell with the visor in place but he looked at Ironhide as he approached like he couldn't believe what he was seeing...

Well that damn well made two of them, she couldn't quite believe what the hell she was seeing either.

"You will be safe here. " Ironhide's voice startled her into focus. Laura laughed humorlessly from the back seat as her door opened on its own. "No one will harm you here, I promise. We are only here to help." She wanted to believe him, and with no other choice she gathered herself for what was next.

She slipped out of the big truck, immediately missing the protective way the leather seats had held her. She was still a bit weary of the other robots but she turned her back to them and leaned back into the cab to get her dog.

By now the energetic pit was barely moving, she looked scared and tired as her gaze wandered over the giant robots behind Michelle but she did thump her tail once as she was lifted up into her owners ams.

A large silver hand came into view as she turned back around and startled her when it opened up. The bot leaned down into view with a smile and she realized she had temporarily stopped breathing. "I would be happy tah help yah carry 'yer burden miss."

He was being very kind, but the thought of handing Sheeva over, of letting her go, had her chest tightening and panic quickly setting in. He must have sensed her tensions because he backed off slowly and settled into an even more relaxed, nonthreatening position and she was able to calm back down when the threat of him taking Sheeva away was removed.

"So, this's tha little snapper that took ah bite outtah Ravage eh? She's sure got alot ah spunk for somethin so small." He said cheerfully before gesturing to another set of doors behind him. "C'mon lil lady, they're already waitin for yah." He smiled softly at her and also nodded kindly to Laura, who had exited the truck as well at this point. She stood beside the brunette with a death grip on her arm, he wasn't sure the other woman even noticed.

He ran a quick scan over the two women and sent the data to Ratchet immediately. Just like he had asked. Jazz's scans weren't as deep or thorough as the medics were, which meant the femmes wouldn't notice, but he could pick up anything majorly wrong. The medi-bot could get pretty creative when he was angry, and Jazz had a physical coming up. The last thing on his processor was slaggin off a sadistic medic. He was crazy...not stupid. That was the twins job.

He scanned them both once more just in case and sent the second data pack to Ratchet as well, 'just in case', before turning to lead the way down to the medbay. The doors having already slid open to allow them down the descending corridor. Most of the base was underground. It wasn't ideal, but it worked to keep them mostly hidden from other humans, and the Cons.

"Ahm sorry if ah startled yah back there." Michelle looked confused as to what he meant by that. "Ah really should 'ave known better. Not everybody's equipped ta handle all mah sexiness." He said, wagging his brow with a lecherous grin on his face. He mockingly flexed his 'muscles' and was rewarded with a tiny snort of laughter from Laura, who seemed just as surprised at the sound as he was.

Michelle, on the other hand kept walking, completely unmoved. 'So much for breaking the carbon-ice with humor.'

He really did feel sorry for them both, but especially for her. Hide's femme seemed to be a magnet for trouble.

Why did the decepticons appear to be targeting the girl? It was a question that had been burning in his processor since the Weapons Specialist reported in earlier. His questions would have to wait though, they both needed to be repaired, and get a good recharge in if they could. He doubted they would last much longer before they fell into stasis as it was.

Laura decided to attach herself to Michelle's side like a tick. No way was she going to be left alone in 'Area 51'. Not with all this crazy ass shit to deal with. She probably looked like she was going to have a heart attack any moment, which was fitting because she certainly felt like she was. Hell, any more surprises and she would probably piss herself. Not that anyone would notice. They were both covered in ash and mud from the escape from that house. Maybe her pungent smell would keep them all away..

God, that robot had almost cracked her up when he 'flexed'. She was so wound up inside she was afraid to even laugh, because once the gates opened up it was all gonna flow out and laughing and crying weren't too far apart on her playlist of shit tonight. So she stuck to Michelle like glue and tried to stop jumping like a freak at every sound.

As they entered the Med-bay several giant tables loomed ahead. Arranged like beds around the room, it reminded her of an ICU almost in its layout. Without the central nurse station of course.

She was doubly surprised when a short Human man was the first to approached them inside. He wore a crisp white lab coat with ironed lapels over his fatigues, and had a little silver name tag on the breast pocket. Doctor Isaac Casey. He seemed so completely out of place surrounded by all the over-sized medical equipment.

He introduced himself as the MP Vet on call and assured her they would do everything in their power to save her companion. He Also suggested she wait outside, ...while they worked. Umm, no.

Now, it had been a long damn day and an excruciatingly horrible week.. The only thing she had in existence was whimpering in her arms and she would be damned to the 9th level of hell before she let that Hawkeye looking mother fucker take her away from Sheeva. No. Friggin. Way.

The giant robot medic she had been expecting when they first arrived picked that moment to appear and intercede, thank God. Hawkeye looked like he was going to argue with her about her choice to stay.

"Miss. Self." the giant rumbled out, interrupting the explosion of feminine wrath he could see coming as he squatted down behind the human male and gestured to him that he had this. "I am assuming this canine is important to you, yes?" His voice was calm but edged with steel as he spoke and she couldn't help but to feel like a child before him.

She simply nodded in assent, afraid if she opened her mouth she would find herself pleading with him to save her baby and not make her leave. She was just too exhausted to fight them. He must have seen something in her eyes because his metallic features softened slightly and he agreed to let her stay. "So long as you both stay far out of the way you may remain. There is a table over there you may use to sit on. If you cannot remain quiet though I will remove you, myself."

Laura caught Michelle's look, pleading with her to agree so she could remain in the Med-bay with the animal who had clearly fought to save her life. She couldn't find it in herself to argue and they both agreed to do as he asked.

Jazz, who had yet to leave their side, was more than happy to escort the ladies to their perch and procure them chairs from who knew where.

"Ya might as well kick it in style." He said as he placed the chairs on the table. "US Military's finest! Wont find a cheaper seat this side ah tha Milky Way." His joking was well meant, and maybe if her world hadn't been turned upside down she would have laughed at his antics. It wasn't, after all, his fault she was a stone faced and unfeeling cow right now, or that Laura kept looking at him like she was searching for the 'OFF' switch...

"If you need anythin' just let meh know. Tha name's Jazz by tha way."

Michelle's mind now slipped back to the present. Sheeva looked so frail to her now, so small and helpless as she lay there. The sedatives that were working to keep her asleep as the doctors went to work themselves only added to her already marked frailty. She listened as Ratchet and the Vet spoke in hushed tones as they worked. Michelle couldn't help but sighed tiredly as she propped her elbow on the armrest, and dropped her chin in her palm. Weariness began to overcome her as she watched them work.

Besides having to sew up all the cuts in her mouth, they had a lot of work to do. The internal damage alone had them worried the most and was what caused the Vet the most concern. He had gently told her that the damage was too severe, he could not promise she would pull through but they would do everything they could. That it would take time before they would know anything for certain...

Sighing again Michelle closed her eyes to fight back the tears. Her numbness was slowly wearing off, and she was so tired of crying, so very very tired of it.

What she wouldn't give just to be happy again...

It wasn't long before weariness and fatigue had her drifting off.

_I was absolutely thrilled! This was something I had dreamed of since I first heard rumors of this unit's existence, and the reasoning for it._

_After being threatened by the Brass with everything from a Court Martial to being sent to the time out corner if we spoke a word about any of this to anyone we were all set down for hours signing numerous confidentiality forms and subjected to numerous medical exams. Mental and emotional assessment screenings. It was all worth it though. I was here, standing on the base they were supposed to be head quartered at. I was now a part of N.E.S.T._

_It bummed me more than a little that I couldn't tell my little sister about this place, but it made sense why I couldn't. This was some serious shit. Knowing anything could get her killed. All I could tell her was that I had been stationed at a base out in No-wheres-ville Nevada._

_I stepped away from the cargo plane that had brought me and some other troops from around he world and made my way with everyone else to the convoy awaiting us.. I knew this thing was big, but never guessed it was an international operation._

_We were all loaded into the waiting buses while our gear was tossed onto another truck and driven to a very large hanger. We all looked like school kids with our faces plastered to the windows but this place was Huge. With multiple smaller hangers and buildings surrounding it the place was massive. I wondered excitedly what on earth they had in there that could need so much room. The complex was just huge. Even the doors were huge. Everything was huge. This was going to be Frickin Awesome!_

_We pulled inside and unloaded to the call of "Fall in!" We all quickly fell into our military dress lines and waited. We didn't have to wait long before a roar of engines filled the hangar and a large blue and red Peterbilt semi led a cluster of flashy civilian vehicles into the hanger. My first stupid thought was that they were for us...which I quickly swept away as the dumb ass thought that it was._

_I personally thought the black Top-kick was cool as fuck. I was seriously hoping they'd let me drive it one day. I'd love to take it for a spin, even if it was only to the commissary to pick up toilet paper._

_They got into their own formation, a line of super cars that had every man there drooling. I never thought I'd see the day when civilian vehicles formed up in a top secret military hanger..._

_Then it hit me! It was like in that spy movie, Octopussy! They were spy cars! And we were all secret agents in training!_

_OK, I had to mentally slap myself twice for that one, but I could't help it. I was doing my best to keep a straight face while I smiled like a dumbass inside._

_After a few seconds all of the troops were eyeballing their favorite model, mine were glued on that sweet ass Top-Kick... That's when shit got real, fast._

_They all just started to come apart, expanding and collapsing, at first I thought I was watching an explosion as they all twisted apart in a mass of swirling gears and snapping cables. Each machine took only seconds to form a bi-pedal body. Holy Mother of fucking Shit balls._

_...So all the rumors were true. I stood there trying desperately to hold onto my military discipline as we were suddenly faced with a hangar full of giant alien robots._

_l listened to the welcome speech the tallest one gave but I was to excited to pay attention to exactly what was said... I just wanted to get out of this formation and meet them. Man this was great! I did let out a small sigh of disappointment though. I really wished Michelle could see this._

Michelle woke up in a dark room, the only light was a security light coming in through her window. Startled she sat up in the bed, managing to bump her arm against the wall in the process. Ignoring the slight twinge of pain, she shook her head trying to clear the strange dream from her mind. Already it was starting to fade.

Where was she? She didn't even remember falling asleep. The last thing she remembered was sitting in that chair... Sheeva!

Sitting up in a rush she quickly tried to scramble out of the mass of sheets tethering her to the bed and in her rush to wriggle loose she managed to bash her injured arm on the bed rail. Letting loose a pain filled curse she screamed as a large hand landed on her shoulder and scared shitless she took a wild swing with her good hand. The object of her fury grunted as her fist made contact with solid matter but startled her again when he snarled at her. "Will you stop that!" And she did when when she realized she knew that voice. "Must you always behave like a shrew? Primus above, you are going to injure yourself further."

She had stopped and blinked several times in confusion when the light suddenly came on. The little lamp on the night stand suddenly illuminating the face of the pissed off figure standing beside her bed. Slightly shocked to see Mr. Black? ..err.. Ironhide? Rubbing his chest where she had apparently nailed him he didn't look too happy either as he loomed above her. He was glowering again... Was that the only expression he knew how to make? She imagined him smiling, a big cheesy toothy grin.

...Now that wasn't creepy at all. Shaking the last silly dregs of sleep from her mind she asked the most important question. "Where am I?" She mumbled as she began wiping the sleep from her eyes. "And why the fuck are you stalking me?"

"I am _not_ stalking you, and you are in your assigned room." He replied as he leaned against the wall crossing his arms. "I was sent to check on you. You have been resting for well over 19 Earth hours after all."

..What?! Good lord, she must have been seriously tired. Once again her mind snapped back to Sheeva. "Where are they keeping Laura and my dog?" She tried again to get up, this time able to peel the sheets away with little trouble. Her feet touched the cold tiled floor and she braced herself on the rail, surprised at how weak her legs felt.

"Is she OK? Did she make it?" She wasn't sure he knew which 'She" she meant, the one in surgery or the one who had been talking to herself, but he answered both questions anyway.

"Your friend," he raised one finely arched brow, "is resting and recuperating in her own room down the hall." That was when his scowl softened into sympathy and her heart dropped. "Your animal however is still under Ratchet's care in the Medical Bay. It's unknown if she will make a complete recovery. I truly am sorry to have to tell you that. I know she means a great deal to you, I just believed you should be prepared." Her gut clinched and she suddenly felt ill. Sensing her distress he reached out to steady her but she brushed him away anger replacing her fear and he quickly tried to reassure her. "He is still doing everything in his power to see that she pulls through."

"What does 'He' know about dogs?" Michelle griped as she took a few tentative steps forward. The damsel was gone damn it, she was going to get to the bottom of all this shit today, but first, she wanted her friend and companion back. ...might even check on Laura...

"More than he did a day ago."

"That's really reassuring." She mumbled sarcastically as she took a few more steps towards the door. Suddenly a sharp pain rent her skull and wave of dizziness had her falling forward. As she staggered, one hand went to her temple and the throbbing pain while the other reached out reflexively to catch the wall. Remembering too late that it was still in a cast she missed the wall completely, and falling toward the floor her last thought was that this was really going to hurt.

A pair of strong arms caught her before she could hit the floor. Pulling her up a little harder than he meant to she found herself drawn into the hard lines of a strong, well muscled body. His arms held her firm as he steadied her. She couldn't help but notice how warm he felt, especially as her back molded into his front. A sudden chill snuck up her spine then and she felt her face flush with heat at his closeness. Her body's uncharacteristic response had her blushing with embarrassment as she pulled herself away from him. "Thank you." She managed to say.

"Ratchet was right. You need to refuel and get more rest, though I'm not sure how you could possibly recharge anymore. Your legs do seem to be malfunctioning though. We should get you back in bed." But she pulled away slightly to give him a slightly incredulous look.

"Refuel? Do I look like a damn car to you? And I've been sleeping long enough." She did have to admit that her stomach was at the moment protesting it's empty state however.

"It would be an improvement."

"Very funny, smart ass. I want to see my dog."

"You will take in some nourishment first."

"Not until I see my dog!"

"Ratchet wants you to eat and so you shall. The dog will still be there when your done!" He told her irritably. "I, for one, am not going to take you there until you have consumed some form of nourishment. I'm not foolish enough to risk the medic's wrath."

Michelle gave up with a sigh, she may as well get some food in her since she planned on spending every moment she was able with Sheeva. Not to mention she had no idea where the hell she was. "Fine." She let him lead her out of the room.

Once she was in the hallway he reached out with his hand and took a hold of her elbow, gently supporting her as she walked. "You really don't have to do that." She told him, once again burning with embarrassment. His close proximity and body heat making her nervous as they walked. She did her best to ignore it, she was obviously still messed up from yesterday. She certainly wasn't getting goose flesh from a holo-form.

"I will not risk you falling again." He replied softly as he led her down the quiet nighttime hallways, careful not to speak too loudly. The place was large and there were so many twists and turns that she wasn't sure she could make it back to her room had her life depended on it.

Finally he led her into a large cafeteria. It was set up for both robots and humans, the human level was on a raised platform to the side, she supposed it was set up this way to keep humans a safe distance from the robots feet wile they ate. The whole area was spartan, and surrounded by a single metal rail.

Ironhide guided her to the nearest table and chair and sat her down while he went to retrieve some fruit from a nearby counter. He was sure she needed proteins and carbohydrates but this was all the humans had available at such a late hour. He was still a little shook up as well, thankful for the chance to step away and think. He had not expected his systems to overheat the way they had when the femme had fallen. It had to be his guardian programming glitching. He had immediately run systems diagnostics and tried to stay focused on not transferring the feelings to his holo-form. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable.

The diagnostics came back clear though, nothing was wrong, and that bothered him the most. He hated seeing the CMO as a patient, it had been a while though since he had a full systems check, maybe he needed to see the medic... He couldn't help but notice as he ran over the data again, that the femme had fit very nicely against his frame. He mentally slapped himself then and when he came back to the table he practically dropped the food and a bottle of water on the table in front of her. She barely caught the apple as it rolled toward the edge of the table. Then he just stood there, staring into space with his arms crossed like some damn statue.

"Could you at least sit down or something? Your're making me nervous hovering like that."

Grumbling to himself he took a chair and sat down across from her. Satisfied, Michelle took a bite of the apple he had gotten her and watched him thoughtfully as she chewed slowly. Taking the time to pull her memories together that had came flooding back during the chaos at the house. "I don't suppose you're allowed to answer a few questions."

"Depends on the questions." He told her in an abrupt tone.

She almost asked him why he was such an ass but didn't think he would answer that one. Maybe later.. She thought of something then. "That was you, wasn't it. That night on the hill after Will gave me the news? You were the big robot that caught me."

He met her eyes for a moment before nodding slowly. "Your memory seems to have returned."

"It was those lights." She told him softly, picking at her apple. He was quiet as he watched her. "Those red lights. I remember seeing them that night. What were they?"

He looked like he was thinking over what to tell her, or what he was allowed to tell her maybe. "Decepticons." He finally growled out.

"Decreptawhos?"

"Decepticons." He said again, irritated.

Lord he got pissy quick.

Michelle took another bite of her apple to give her time to put her thoughts together. "I'm assuming they aren't your friends then. Can they change shape too?" Again he nodded his confirmation. He sure wasn't offering any information, she was going to have to drag it out of him. She sighed as she chewed on the apple some more. She stopped in mid chew as another thought hit her. "That cop car was one, wasn't it? ...That was why you guys rammed him?"

"Yes, Barricade." He confirmed, spitting the name out like a curse.

Her memories of last night bombarded her again. The explosions and fire that burned her skin and choked her lungs, that metal panther and the way it tore into her home and attacked them all. Sheeva. Now she'd lost whatever appetite she'd had. They had attacked at her work and home. "Why are they following me?" She asked softly as she lowered the half eaten apple to the table.

"I don't know." He told her in a calm, steady voice. So different from his previous short tempered one. "None of us do. It is something I -we, intend to find out."

Michelle caught the slip and regarded him intently as he turned his face away, almost embarrassed. There was something he wasn't telling her. She had a sneaking suspicion it might have to do with something other than the robots that were chasing her, but she couldn't figure out what.

If it weren't for his being a machine and not a man she would be worried he was seriously stalking her. She was only half joking when she had asked him that when she woke up. He was like a shadow she couldn't get rid of. Not that she completely wanted to. At least when he wasn't being a dick he was ok. But still, what was his game? Was he just protecting her? And if so, why was he still doing it here on base where she was presumably safe? Her mental train stopped dead when he swung his stony gaze back at her and glared. "Eat." He said shortly. "We are not leaving until you do."

Holding back her own temper in check she picked the apple back up and ate it, glaring right back at him over the piece of fruit while she did. They didn't speak again while she finished eating, killing the apple and peeling a banana, she chased it all down with half a bottle of water and had to admit, after getting something in her stomach she did feel better. He was staring into space again so she snapped her fingers to get his attention. Smiling at his startled look.

"So, what's the deal?" She asked, honestly curious. "With these different forms of yours. Are you like A.I.'s? Or people trapped in robots or what?"

"That is ridiculous and insulting" He snorted. "We are not simple machines, we are living sentient beings! And the thought of having a human trapped inside of me is revolting. Suffice to say we are not from this planet. What in Primes name made you think that anyway?"

"I don't know!" She finally broke. "I don't know anything anymore! All I know is that I don't know a damn thing!" She threw her apple core at the trash can, missing it by a mile. She stared at the apple core as it bounced across the floor before collapsing against her chair in defeat. Nothing seemed to want to go right. "I don't know anything I thought I did."

Ironhide watched her for a moment before he stood up. "Come on." He told her pulling her gently to her feet. She was honestly surprised at his gentleness this time as he lead her along the hallways.

.

.

Ironhide had told Michelle he would bring her back to the Med-bay to see her dog and he was a bot of his word... Even if he was still worried over his heating problem and just knew the old bot was gonna use that creepy aft sixth sense of his and know. Here Ratchet was busy scanning over data-pads at his desk when they walked in.

"I told you two slaggers to get out and stay out!" He bellowed from behind his desk before a giant wrench was hurtled at the Mech sized door behind them. Holy Shit! she thought as Ironhide quickly pulled her out of the way of the falling tool. Now she knew why he said he wouldn't risk the wrath of the medic. That bot was crazy! Ratchet stood suddenly from his desk, ranting loudly in a language she didn't understand. At least that's what it looked like since he sent a giant data-pad flying across the room next. Looking toward his door, probably to see why he had missed whoever had been harassing him he noticed the two on the floor. His frown only lessened minutely as he narrowed his gaze at Ironhide before he asked her, "Did that stubborn mech get you something to eat?"

**-Of course I did!-** Ironhide sent him over a private link. **-You think I want you denting my helm with a wrench?-** He let his holoform fizzle out as he transformed near by where he had been parked while he looked over Michelle.

Unaware of their silent communication she quietly nodded a yes at the temperamental medic as she looked up at him. "May I please see my dog now?" She asked him quietly. Ironhide could tell she was still a little scared of the grumpy medi-bot. But Ratchet, being who and what he was, could already sense her fear and hesitation and quickly schooled his expression and tone. His display moments before had surely scared the poor girl.

"Of course." He replied calmly then lowered his servo for her. She only stared at the offered hand, not quite sure what to do now. "Well, get on. I won't squish you, I promise." She hesitantly stepped onto his palm and held onto his thumb as he lifted her up and onto his desk where he had a small section blocked off with a low wall of engine parts and data-pads. Well small for him anyway. He set her down not far away from the little pile of blankets inside and gave her a gentle nudge towards that blocked off section.

She eased her way over the wall and as she neared the pile of cloth, a black and white head poked out of the pile and a tail began thumping against the desk on the other side. It was the most movement Ironhide had seen the animal make since their arrival. It obviously wasn't sedated anymore and he watched as the human and her pet reunited. Michelle wrapped her good arm around the fur ball and it licked her face in return. Ironhide couldn't help the shudder of revulsion as he watched the animal lap at its owner.

**-Will the canine recover?-** He quietly comm'd Ratchet.

**-Yes. As a matter of fact she was surprisingly resilient. Most humans would have been wallowing in pain and self pity at such injuries. It already wants to get back up and move around however.-**

**-Speaking of self misery-** Ironhide interrupted. **-Ratchet, she isn't handling this well. I don't know what to do, she's glitched twice now. I just don't understand why she is so opposed to accepting what is right in front of her and moving on.-**

Ratchet turned to regard him as the woman sat next to her pet and gently stroked it's back to calm it down. **-Old friend, you are a battle hardened warrior who has survived thousands of years of senseless war. You have forgotten there was a time when there was more to life than war and death. She is no soldier Ironhide. Try to remember what it was like to loose someone that close to you. She must have loved her brother dearly... You have forgotten what it feels like to loose someone that close to you.-** He said calmly. **-Give her time. She will come around. Why do you think she clings to that little mammel so much? It's all she has left that has any meaning to her.-**

Ironhide thought about what the medic had to say. Ratchet was right of course, he didn't let anyone close to him anymore. After a war that had raged for so long and cost so many lives, he had learned not to let anyone in, it hurt less when they were gone. A lesson he had been reminded of recently.

He had grown close to a human of all things, a brave man with a warriors spark. He had tried not to let it happen but the little human had somehow weaseled into his spark. For the first time in longer than any human could hope to live he had let someone in, and in the blink of an optic he too was gone.

Now looking at that man's younger sister, he knew the bond he had shared with Mark was nothing compared to the one Mark had shared with his sister. Ironhide couldn't remember the last time he missed someone as much as she obviously missed her brother. He had just become accustomed to taking these things in stride, yes he had raged initially and made sure that pit spawned decepticon ThunderCracker had paid for what happened but then had to get his helm back in the battle and he pretty much pushed any feelings of loss for the man he had considered a friend to the side. Now that he thought about it, he felt slightly guilty about that. **-Still, this isn't normal.-** He sent to the medical officer. **-She seems even more fragile than normal ****for these flighty humans.-**

**-No, it's not normal. She needs to learn to let him go. Honestly if you think about it she hasn't had any proper time to grieve. She's been to busy dodging 'Cons.-**

Ironhide let his gaze wander back over to the woman who was still petting the now sleeping dog and he got an idea. **-I think I know what to do.-** He quietly told Ratchet.

**-Getting soft in your old age?-**

**-No, but maybe it's time I relearned some things.-** He walked over to the desk and Michelle looked up at him as he approached. He held out a hand to her. "Come with me. I have something I want to show you." She looked up at him a bit hesitantly, uncertain if she wanted to leave her pet. "If Ratchet says it's ok for her to travel, she can come with us."

"Just don't let it move to much." Ratchet said as he eyed Ironhide. **-What are you up to?-**

**-Don't worry so much. I'm not going to take her off base.-**

**-Fine, you get either one of them hurt though and I will personally weld your cannons to your aft.-**

**-If I hurt her, you wont have to, I'll do it myself.-**

**-Hide, one more thing... That canine should not be up right now, and I don't just mean walking.. it should not have survived that surgery according to Doctor Casey, let alone be able to stand up and run around. We're running tests but so far we have found nothing to explain its recovery. Keep this information to yourself for now, there's no need to alarm Miss. Self at this point. Just keep an eye on it.-**

Ironhide was only half listening to Ratchet as he ran his plan through his processor one more time. Hopefully this would work. Besides, leave it to Ratchet to make a big deal out of a little organic dog... He turned to Michelle. "Come on." He prompted her again.

She got up to her feet and Sheeva also got up next to her. Carefully he scooped them both up and set them on the floor before he transformed. He opened his door and his holoform popped into view. He gently scooped the dog up in his arms and placed her in the backseat as Michelle slid into the front. Then he let his holoform dissipate and slowly pulled out of the med-bay through the wide doors. He drove slowly down the corridors, careful of the humans and out the main garage.

"Where are we going?" She asked him after a few quiet minutes.

"You'll see." Was all he replied as he drove further into the base. He followed a series of back roads and old tank trails until he came up to a ridge overlooking an old firing range for artillery. Now it was only used by a select few, and not for shooting. He pulled to a stop at the top of the ridge and the whole night sky was open to them.

Quietly, to avoid her now sleeping again pet, Michelle opened the door and slipped out of the truck. Ironhide popped back into his holoform and stood next to her as her gaze lifted up to the stars. "This is pretty." She said softly.

He didn't say anything, just stood quietly there as her eyes wandered over the heavens above them. This was her time and for once he wasn't impatient. He watched her as she seemed to look at every single star up there, almost as if she were looking for something in particular, before a single tear fell down her cheek.

_'She's a good kid, Hide.'_ Came the memory as he watched the woman standing quietly. The last living memory he had of Mark. _'She really is. She just lost her love and joy for life is all.'_ Mark had paused to try and get air into his mangled lungs. _'I know she's got that love and joy buried down inside of her, just like I know you're not the grouchy ol' bot you pretend to be.'_ He was fading fast now and all Ironhide could do was kneel next to him, trying to lend him some kind of support. They both knew he wouldn't make it. _'She needs someone to watch over her, to...help ...her.'_ He closed his eyes, trying to gather the strength to finish what he wanted to say. _'C-c-can...you do me a favor?'_

_'What my friend?'_

_'Can...you...please...'_

_'Be the one to look after her?'_

Mark had weakly nodded. _'You're the...only one I trust.'_

Ironhide hadn't even hesitated. He knew then and there that he would. His friend had just given his life to help fight off a 'Con so Ironhide would have the chance to keep on living. He was indebted to the man for his life, but he agreed out of friendship. _'I will, you have my word.'_

_'Thanks, buddy. You'll like her. She's ...a ...good...kid...'_ Mark had then smiled and let his head fall back and then slipped away, moments before the medics had come. Ironhide knew that what he had just agreed to would be difficult to pull off, she didn't even know he existed, but he had been determined to hold himself to that promise.

Now a chain of events had led her to stand here next to him on the ridge, the very same ridge that Mark and Ironhide had also spent a lot of time together on. It hit him that she was just like himself, but for different reasons. He pushed others away because of a lifetime of loosing them, she pushed them away from a lifetime of hurt and pain. Mark never did go into detail on what had happened to her but Ironhide knew they both had it rough as sparklings, rougher than they should have. He also knew other things had happened to her that had sent her brother into a rage one day after a phone call from her. Again, Mark wouldn't tell him. All he said was that he was bringing her here to live with him. Whatever had happened had left her bitter and full of distrust. Something one so young shouldn't be feeling.

He refocused his attention on Michelle, who was once again a bit to close to the edge of the cliff for his liking. He brought out an arm and gently took a hold of hers, bringing her a bit farther back away from the edge. He was completely stunned when she turned towards him suddenly and clung to him, burying her face in his chest.

He just stood there in shock, not really knowing what to do as she started crying softly against his chest. _'Put your arms around her, you goof.'_ A quick image of Mark's face, with an amused half grin, flashed across his mind. _'You won't melt if you do.'_ Without even realizing he was doing it his arms came up and wrapped around her shoulders, holding her close as she cried. _'See, that wasn't so hard, was it?'_ OK, he was getting to the point where he was actually going to ask Ratchet to check him over. There was something wrong with him. He shouldn't have memory files like these...

She felt surprisingly soft against his holoform. He had always wondered how these soft, squishy things had managed to survive as long as they did with such delicate protoforms. But right now, soft and squishy didn't seem so bad... It was actually kind of nice. There was a soft chuckling noise in his head then and he decided he was definitely going to talk to Ratchet. This wasn't normal.

He felt eyes watching him and he turned his head toward his body, to see a pair of soft brown eyes watching him from the window. Satisfied that her mistress wasn't going to come to any harm, the dog carefully made it's way back into the back seat where it laid back down with a sigh. Ironhide frowned slightly, he hadn't heard or felt the dog move around at all. Curious.

Michelle still clung to him, still cried and he still held her as her crying body shook against him. He wondered how long she would grieve like this._ 'Until she let's it all go, buddy. She needs this.'_ Frustrated Ironhide ran a quick diagnostic on himself, but everything came back fine.

He was about to comm Ratchet about it when Michelle's cries suddenly slowed, a few moments of sniffling and coughing and she finally lifting her head from his chest. She looked at him with a tear stained face full of both embarrassment, and gratitude. "I'm so sorry." She told him and quickly slipped out of his arms and stepped back.

He reached out and pulled her away from the edge before she took another tumble. Ratchet would take him apart and put him back together backwards if he let that happen again. "It's fine, really."

She sat down on the ground, pulling her knees to her chest as she once again lifted her eyes up to the skies. "Mark and I used to do this a lot." She told him. "Just sit outside and watch the stars. I miss him so much." She sighed softly and then was quiet but at least she didn't seem like she was going to cry again. For right now anyway. She sat there for a long while, quietly watching the stars above while Ironhide just waited with a calm patience that even surprised him as he leaned on his vehicle form with his arms crossed. After about an hour she finally stood back up and with a final quiet sigh she turned to him. "Thank you." She told him softly.

"Your welcome." He replied, maybe this femme wasn't so bad after all. "You ready to go back?" She just quietly nodded and he opened the door for her so she could climb in. After she was secure he let his holoform fizzle out and began the drive back. Michelle didn't say anything as she sat quietly in the seat, lost in her own thoughts.


	7. Chapter 7

Laura woke up feeling like shit.

Her eyes were sticky, her hair was crusty, and as she rolled over sand scraped against her bare skin, and her mouth... Gawd, did she eat dirt or what?

It was then that she remembered she wasn't at home, this was not her bed, and these itchy sand filled sheets were not her own.

Yesterdays events suddenly came crashing back into her. The explosion outside the gas station, their strange rescue, their escape and then the demon cat from hell at Michelle's house, freaky robot people either trying to kill them or save them... She slowly pulled herself up with a loud soulful groan.

One day she was going to figure out which god she'd pissed off to deserve this kind of shit...

Now sitting up, she slowly she peeled the dirty sheets away from her body to inspect the damage. Scrapes and cuts peppered the flesh along her arms and legs, some of which she could probably thank the silver robot for, especially after his flying tackle in the gas station.

Fucking robots.

One particularly nasty contusion laced across her stomach from hip bone to rib cage. Right where it's tail had landed, leaving a chain link pattern of purple and black flesh behind. The bastard had barely missed her hip and rib bones.

Well, she was stiff and sore from being slammed around but at least nothing felt broken. Getting hit by that metal appendage was like being clothes lined by a tree trunk. At least she got to crush its lens in first. Hopefully he was hurting just as bad as she was today. Or dead. Dead would be good. Very, very good.

She was pretty certain it hadn't meant to just bruise her and she was definitely feeling it today. Now, to top it all off, she was working on a headache. One that was promising to be truly epic. Her body was screaming 'Go back to bed!' but she really needed to pee. What time was it anyway?

A small framed window sat to her right, the blinds left open probably in hopes the sunshine would eventually wake her but no sunlight filtered through. A glance outside confirmed it was still night but how long had she slept? At least a day she figured, since it was early morning when she had lain down and now the view outside was inky black, no hint of a sunrise in sight. She must have been a lot more exhausted than she had realized when Will had led her here.

He was nice, Will was, and polite enough for a grunt she supposed. He reminded her of her dad, he was kind of quirky too. He even apologized to her for not having nicer lodgings when they had all walked her, and well, carried Michelle to their rooms last night.

"I'm sorry," he had said, "I know it's not home, but the beds are soft and we do try to give our troops a decent room. Prime suggested you both be lodged further away from the normal hub bub. With what goes on around here it can get pretty noisy."

"Prime?"

He had turned to her then with a warm smile, he was probably just happy she was asking questions and not freaking out on him. He was lucky, she was just too exhausted, but she did however reserve the right to have a full melt down later.

"Optimus Prime, the big guy you saw in the hanger earlier." She nodded to him so he would keep talking but she wasn't really listening anymore, her side was beginning to throb now and she didn't want to give him a reason to take her back to that pissy metal medic.

So she loosely crossed her arms so she could rest a hand on the painful area. She kept walking with him but couldn't hide the slight limp and he gave her a concerned look. "Your're looking pretty rough girl." The look she suddenly shot him was lethal.

Realizing what he had just said he stopped walking and cursed himself as he rushed to explain, his hands wagging in the air like little white flags, "I didn't mean it like that I swear! I wouldn't ! I didn't! What I meant was maybe you should let Ratchet-"

"I'll pass." She almost snapped at him. "I've had about enough crazy robots for one day, or a lifetime for that matter."

Will shook his head as they started walking again. "Your lucky he was busy with the dog. If he'd caught you limping around like that, he wouldn't have given you a choice."

"Guess it's a good thing he didn't notice then, huh." She didn't want to talk anymore and he seemed to get that because he didn't say anything else. She just wanted a long hot bath and some sleep. Damn it, it wasn't her fault she looked like Swamp Thing. Maybe she was just being overly pissy, it wasn't his fault either dammit.

As soon as they arrived at the sleeping quarters section she noticed a few things that said someone had clearly 'tried' to make 'look' less militant. Cheap hotel carpet had been lain down the hall over the concrete and each plain metal door was adorned with a little swirly number. Otherwise it looked like every other hall they had walked down.

Will stopped just outside one of the doors and slid a card through the security scanner. The little light turned green and he swung the door open and flipped on the light before turning back and calling down the hall, "This one is for Michelle, Ironhide." The tall man/not man that was carrying her co-worker continued into the room without a word to either of them, and Laura followed him. She didn't altogether trust these crazy wackos she suddenly found herself saddled with and she wasn't about to leave him alone with Michelle.

The other girl was out cold, she hadn't woken up at all when he had picked her up out of that chair and carried her here and she didn't wake up when he tenderly laid her down on the bed either. She had looked like hell too, her ripped clothing was covered in dry mud and she probably needed a new cast as well, but right now she really just needed some sleep.

Laura hated leaving her in the dirty jeans and shirt but wasn't sure the other woman would appreciate being stripped down without her knowledge or consent. So she wiped off what she could of the mud and dirt and managed to cover her up with the sheet and blankets without waking her.

As soon as that was done they all walked out of the room, Ironhide softly closing the door behind them. He looked at Will then with that military aloofness she was really beginning to hate. "If that will be all, I need to recharge as well."

"I got it from here Hide, thanks." Will answered.

She was about to say thank you as well when he suddenly just blinked out, like a T.V. turning off, he just vanished.

No good night. See ya later. Kiss my ass. Nothing...

A tiny part of her wanted to point and gasp in surprise at the spot where he had been standing but after seeing everything else she had tonight she was just too damn tired to be surprised. Well fuck you too, asshole. Will had by then opened the next door down and turned on the light for her.

"This one is yours. If you need anything, there is usually someone up. These bots keep strange hours, we can give you the grand tour tomorrow though when you wake up." He smiled again and she hurried into the room. All she could think about was the bed she could see waiting for her. "I'll be fine." She told him shortly before quickly thanking him and closing the door in his face. There was a bathroom nearby she just knew it.

She walked over to the first door along the opposite wall to find a linen closet. Snagging a towel she continued to the next door and almost moaned when she saw the shower. Hoping to get her own caked on mud off she stripped down as fast as her battered body would let her before it hit her that she didn't have anything clean to put on afterwards. ... Fuuuuuck!

Sighing in frustration, she wasn't about to go back out there and beg for clean clothes. Didn't really feel like running into one of those creepy ass robots and she was about ready to fall down where she stood anyway. She would just have to put the dirty clothes back on tomorrow she decided and settled for rinsing the mud and dirt off her skin and hair as best she could. A short search had revealed a serious lack of soap and shampoo so she rinsed as best she could with water before toweling off and crawling into bed. She hated going to bed feeling filthy but her pride, and her sanity, at this moment were more important than her pet peeves. She could always get clean sheets later she had thought.

Now, god only knows how many hours later, as she struggled to get up, she wondered if maybe she shouldn't let someone check her over after all. She was so stiff and sore it wasn't funny. Laura struggled out of bed and into the bathroom to pee. After washing up she managed to crawl back into the muddy clothes she had taken off last night. Cursing her stiff jeans she left the room and went to see if Michelle was up yet. Maybe she would go with her to see that robot doctor.. what was his name?.. Hatchet? Ratchet?.. After knocking several times on the other girls door and not getting a reply she checked the knob and found it was still unlocked, so she peeked inside. The light from the hallway spilled into the darkened room revealing a tussled but empty bed and an equally empty room. Michelle was not there... Well good, that meant she was already up, that was very good. Now Laura just had to find her.

If only it was that easy though, Laura had no idea where to start looking. This was a military base after all, there were probably a lot of places she wasn't allowed to be and she really didn't want to wander around the whole place looking for her either. The stiffness she felt was starting to wear off as she moved around but the bruises and scrapes still hurt like hell as she moved, especially across her stomach. Trying to rise above the pain she thought of the dog and figured that Michelle would probably be in that room where they had worked on her, but really couldn't remember the way there. Great, whether she wanted to or not she was going to have to ask someone for directions.

Groaning yet again, she walked back the way she remembered coming in with Will and left the barracks. As soon as she cleared the outside doors a large yellow foot stepped down in front of her. Startled, and a little pissed, she jumped back in surprise. "Watch it, you overgrown garbage disposal!" She yelled up at the robot in front of her.

Startled, the foot backed away hastily as the robot back peddled from her, ultimately loosing it's balance and falling heavily on it's ass with a bang. The way it rubbed it's head, so much like a confused child she couldn't help but feel bad for scaring it/he. Definitely a he, did they even have she's? He looked around with a befuddled expression before making eye contact with her and giving her a sheepish little wave with his giant hand. Her eyes were instantly drawn to the raised appendage and she noticed he only had four digits. Three fingers and a thumb... She smiled a tiny smile before another voice effectively broke the moment.

"Bee! You OK buddy?" A young man ran up to the downed bot worriedly. He couldn't have been more than eighteen, maybe nineteen. The yellow robot turned and gave him a thumbs up before it got to its feet and made a show of stretching out. Laura just shook her head, this place was nuts.

Keeping a watchful eye on the clumsy robot she approached the young man intent on some answers. "Excuse me, have you seen a new girl around here, she came in last night with a dog?"

"No, no girl, I haven't seen any girls. Accept mykayla, I mean Mikaela, not my Kayla!.. Not that she's not My Kayla, just..." God he was a strange kid she thought. "Who are you anyway?" The kid looked her over "I've never seen you around here either. You look like shit, what happened, did you dive in a mud hole or what?"

Lord, this kid was just full of charm... "I'm new, and no, I did not 'Fall' into a mud hole. It was more like being 'Stomped' into one."

"Around here that actually makes a lot of sense." He held out a hand, "The name is Sam, I just got here too. About an hour ago actually. Summer break just started and I figured I'd hang here for some of it. And this big guy here is my guardian, Bumblebee. Bee say hi." The large bot perked up as Howard and Emerson's 'Hello! ma baby, Hello! ma honey,' started playing from his speakers.

She ignored the boys hand but smiled at the bots antics, he was adorable in a big.. heavy kinda way. "Laura. And I really just want to find my friend."

He shrugged. "Sorry, I have no idea where she is."

Laura sighed in frustration. Figures. "Thanks anyway I guess." She turned and limped on. Maybe Michelle was in one of the hangers. Keeping an eye out for more giant robot feet she made her way to the nearest one that was open and almost groaned in frustration when she came across the two sports cars from night before.

The yellow one was obviously a preener. The way he was sitting there in the hanger, methodically waxing his armor, it looked almost sexual. Hell, she tried to turn around and leave before they saw her but the silver one wasn't letting her get away that easily.

Never in her life had she both loathed and loved something as much as she did those two cars... Well, more loathe than love now that she knew they weren't just cars. Did these things never sleep?

"Hey Sunny, look who finally came out of hiding." The silver one smiled down at her before his head snapped forward with a grimace as the yellow one growled out, "I said don't call me that, fragger!"

Wow.. The yellow one hadn't even touched him, but it sure looked like he'd knocked the hell out of the silver one.

Just her luck, she managed to find the only two defective bots on base...

And for the life of her, she could not remember their names. She was gonna guess the yellow one was Sunny though.

It had to be a joke too. Because his disposition was certainly _not_ 'Sunny' in _any_ way.

He glanced down at her with a bored expression before ignoring her completely and focusing back on his arm guard. His polishing was beginning to make her blush for some reason, like she was watching something she shouldn't be. It was weird..

Laura contemplated just walking back out, she really just wanted to leave at this point. But in the end, she wanted to find Michelle more than she wanted to sit back in her room.

Plus, if she was honest with herself, as the daughter of a mechanic, she was pretty impressed with the specimens before her.

So, biting the bullet, she took a chance and walked a little closer. "Yeah, um, have you guys seen Michelle? The woman I was with last night. I can't seem to find her." ...Please say yes. Please say yes...

"I do not see where that is any concern of our's human, but no. Now go away." Sunny said bluntly without even pausing in his polishing. Now that was just rude!

She couldn't hold back the smart retort, "Well, aren't you just a charmer."

Now she didn't say it out loud enough for him to hear, but the look he suddenly gave her said he had caught the mumbled accusation, and was not impressed.

'Well, fuck you too then.' she thought to herself. He didn't have to be so rude about it. As if talking to her was some huge inconvenience. Well, talking to them was a huge inconvenience to her too. She intentionally ignored the little voice in her head reminding her that she had been treating everyone she met with the same charm over the last hour since waking up. So maybe she deserved it in some strange karmatic kind of way.

Even so, she decided that they were just another dead end anyway and she turned around to leave.

"Wait!" The Silver one suddenly called out.

And maybe she was defective too because her stupid ass actually listened to him. There had to be something wrong with her, mentally.

"Just walk away Laura, they don't know where she is. Don't turn around. He's just going to waste more of your time."

She tried to walk forward. She really did, even managed to take two or three steps in that direction. But that evil, sadistic, curious little bitch in her head, the one that wanted to hear what the super hot, sexy as hell corvette had to say, had apparently hijacked her higher motor functions, because she suddenly found herself turning back around.

She was going to hate herself for this later, she just knew it.

Sides turned his charming smile on Laura and she missed how Sunny's lips twitched with a grin before disappearing again.

The silver robot quickly opened a compartment in his forearm and pulled out a small silver object. He played with it for a moment before skating over to her and leaning down to hand it to her.

"Here, it's a datapad, take it." She did and looked at the little topographical map that was pulled up. What the hell was she supposed to do with this?

"I marked your friends bio-signature on it." he pointed to the blinking light on the screen. "Just follow that red light right there and it'll take you right to her." He finished explaining with that award winning smile and he just looked so proud of himself too. He deserved a pat on the back, at least he wasn't being an ass like the other one. Who was ignoring her still.

This was great though! No more talking to strange people and robots! She could finally find Michelle!

Grateful, she immediately focused on the little red light that was happily blinking at her on the screen. "Thank you!" She told the robot, and actually meant it.

Sides just waved her off though, "Its not a problem really. As a matter of fact," he purred, "It's my pleasure."

His last words were rumbled out in such a seductive tone that it vibrated through her and had her thighs clenching together. Holy Shit! Her face suddenly felt 1000 degrees and she couldn't leave fast enough. Nor daring to look at the smiling bot she glued her burning face to the screen and she turned around, barely sprinting out the door to find her friend. The sounds of his laughter following after her.

Sunstreaker watched the human femme nearly running away from his brother. Not that he had a choice, Sides was damn near forcing the video feed on him.

Images of her face darkening with shock and then embarrassment as Sides flirted with her were suddenly bombarding him from his brother, along with feelings of curiosity and... was that intrigue?

He ignored his brothers confusion about the femme and instead gave him a brotherly shove through the bond. Sides backed off a bit, laughing out loud, his side of the bond still overflowing with mirth and self satisfaction.

Sunny shook his helm, at least he had told her the truth. He didn't know where the other girl was. But apparently Sides did and had no intention of telling her either. He saw it as a perfect chance to prank the new human and Sunny was willing to indulge his brother.

Sides was still projecting and Sunny couldn't help but laugh at some of the things his brother had planned for that femme.

This was going to be fun..

.

.

Michelle rode quietly in Ironhide as he drove her through the compound.

She was still thinking about what had happened since waking up. Hide had really surprised her by taking her out to that cliff. The view had been unbelievable, the stars were so clear and bright.

Mark would have loved to have seen it. He loved stargazing almost as much as he loved being in the military. She had even joked with him that it was why he joined the military. So he could see the stars from all over the world on Uncle Sam's dollar. God, she missed him. Her brother. But because of Hide, it was a little easier to think about him and not cry now.

Something about the spot he had brought her to made her feel unbelievably close to Mark. Like he was right there with her, telling her goodbye.

And as strange as it was, as strange as _he_ was, Hide had made her feel safe. Safe enough that her walls had crumbled faster than she could build them back up.

She had tried to hold the tears in when she felt them coming on, not wanting to have that melt down. Especially in front of Ironhide, but she hadn't had a chance to mourn the loss of her brother, and he had brought her to the one place guaranteed to to jump start her grieving.

Before she knew what was happening tears were streaming down her face, her knees had gone weak and she was clinging to a man she barely knew like a lifeline while her heart shattered into a million pieces. She felt like her heart and soul were being destroyed as she cried. His shirt was soaked through with her tears but he never said a word, only held her close as she sobbed into him like a baby.

It was a long time later before she was able to pick up all of her shattered pieces and put them back together.

She had been so embarrassed by her breakdown too. She was sure he would look at her differently. Like she was weak or pitiful, but he never did.

Now she sat quietly in his cab, enjoying the warm seats that molded against her body and cradled her as they drove over the rough road back to the command center. Soft, quiet music played in the background and Sheeva slept in the back as they drove.

She noticed again her muddy clothes and thought that maybe she should offer him a cleaning later.

They pulled to a stop just outside of a large, well lit hanger. The tall double sliding doors were propped open and inside she could see the massive red and blue robot from last night was speaking with Will.

"Prime wants to talk with us," Ironhide told her as she slipped out his open door, her dog following close behind. "Then I need to take you to Ratchet, he wants to put a clean cast on your arm."

As Michelle took the first couple of steps toward the hangar, she could hear the now familiar sound of whirring gears and shifting metal behind her as Ironhide transformed. She probably would have watched him had her gaze not been locked on the imposing figure of the Prime waiting for them inside.

He was taller than even Ironhide. Towering heads and shoulders over the other bots she had seen. He was an impressive figure in his red and blue armor and she couldn't help but feel oh so very small as she approached him.

Feeling a little nervous she let Ironhide lead the way inside. His long strides were forcing her to almost jog just to keep up with him.

"Ironhide." The big bot greeted him as they approached, he came to a stop before the large bot and she came to a stop well out of range of their large feet.

"So, this is the human female the Decepticons have caused so much grief."

She wanted to speak, introduce herself, ...something! But all she could do was stare at him, her brain was having such a hard time just getting over his size!

Sheeva though, had no such problems and strutted right up to the giant bot without fear. She stood firm at his massive foot and gazed up at him intently, like she was inspecting him for flaws.

She was trying to read him, Michelle could tell, it was something she always did with men. Prime regarded her back with the same intensity. His gaze full of patience and understanding.

After only a few seconds of intently staring at the Prime she merely canted her head to the side in that way all dogs do before giving a short bark of satisfaction. Happy with her new friend she wagged her tail and began her doggy duty of sniffing his foot. Ironhide watched as she sniffed primes foot and Michelle could have sworn he looked worried, like she might suddenly do something unpleasant.

Michelle was a little embarrassed to say the least. But as Prime looked down at her dog, his face only sported the kindest smile she had ever seen as Sheeva finished her inspection and returned to sit down next to Michelle.

"I imagine I have passed an important test of some kind." Michelle blushed, he had no idea, and oh how she wished she had brought a leash with her, or at least a rope. She really didn't want one of these guys to step on her dog when she decided to walk up and sniff them.

The large robot knelt down then so he was closer to her level, but his eye level was still very high up and she had to crane her back to look at him.

"Greetings, Miss Self." He said as he rested an arm across his bent knee. Will came over to stand next to her and Sheeva gave his hand a few happy licks but stayed put.

"I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots."

"Autobots?" She asked him, finally able to speak, and a little confused by everything.

"They're the good guys." Will whispered to her.

She thought about that for a moment. "And the ones that attacked me, they're Cons?"

Prime nodded his head. "Yes, they are a war hungry faction from our home world, calling themselves Decepticons. Their Leader, Megatron, along with the help of his forces here, seeks to destroy this planet and harvest it's resources for themselves. Our planet was destroyed because of the war that has brought us all here. As long as a spark beats in my chest I have sworn to keep what happened to our planet from happening to yours. We have been working with your worlds governments in secret, battling Megatron's forces wherever they show themselves. "

She looked up at the large Autobot. "Please, sir. Can you tell me what they want from me? Why is this all happening?"

What sounded like a sigh came from him before he answered. "That, I do not know. We had at first assumed they were targeting Ironhide, but that, it seems, was a mistake. They are indeed targeting you, and we do not know why."

Confusion washed over her. She had no idea what was going on anymore. Why on earth would a bunch of bad guy robots from another world want her dead? She was nobody important. She didn't even know they existed a few days ago, and now they were chasing her!

"What will I do now?" She asked, herself more than the others around her. Where on earth could she possibly go to hide from giant robots?

"You will stay here on base where we can protect you. At least until we know more." Prime told her calmly.

She did have to admit, the big guy was comforting to be around. He had a natural grace and power to him that just screamed 'Leader' and when he said they would protect her, she fully believed it.

"I will also assign a Guardian to yourself and the other female. She will need to stay as well unfortunately. Now that Barricade and Ravage have seen you together, they will target her as well trying to get to you."

"A guardian?"

"Just think of it like having a giant metal bodyguard 24/7." Will winked at her.

"Ohhh, I see. So I get a big babysitter then?" Hello sarcasm, miss me?

Having someone follow her around, watching her every move, constantly looking over her shoulder... That was _not_ appealing to her at all.

She had been on her own for so long now that she had forgotten about her little problem. Just the thought of someone following her around like that made her skin crawl.

She couldn't do this.

"Would you rather we turned you loose out there without protection then?" Ironhide rumbled the question out like he was talking to a petulant child. Crossing his arms and staring down at her like a schoolmarm. What the hell? She glared up at him. He had seemed almost nice earlier. Why was he going back to asshole mode?

"You know what I would _rather_, Ironhide? I would, _rather_, I had my house back! I would, _rather_, my brother still be alive! I would, _rather_, none of this had ever happened to freaking begin with!" She snapped back at him.

But just because she hated the situation, didn't mean she was stupid. There was no way she could face those things on her own.

What if one of them happened to sneak on base? She needed a bodyguard. That didn't mean she had to like it.

"But I guess what I rather doesn't matter anymore anyway. I can't change what happened anymore than you can."

"I am truly sorry Miss. Self. We too, know what it is like to loose everything we once held dear. We here are not so different. We were not always what we have become." He looked at Ironhide then and the two seemed to share something, whatever it was she almost felt bad for assuming she was the only one who suffered here.

When he turned back to her it was with determination and confidence. "We will find out what they want, this I promise you. However, in the interim, to ensure no harm comes to you, or your friend, it would be wise to have Guardians assigned to you both." Prime told her and she nodded her understanding.

She would just have to deal with it then. "So, when do I get to meet my new shadow?"

Will gave her a smile. "You already have." He looked at the big black Autobot standing in front of her.

"Ironhide?" She asked, feeling a little relieved as he nodded his confirmation. He could be an ass sure, but it was an ass she knew, kind of...

Then a thought crossed her mind and she turned to Will. "I thought he was yours? He was always with you when I met you before. Isn't he your Guardian?"

He gave her a boyish grin. "I'm not the one being chased by 'Cons at the moment. Don't worry about it, Prime already sent the Arcee triplets to watch over my family and I'm spending most of my time here right now anyway until everything calms down. It's easier this way if we have to mobilize. Besides, he insisted." He waved a hand at Ironhide who just kept his steady gaze on her.

"Is this acceptable?" Prime asked her then.

"Yes, that's fine if it is OK with you guys."

"We will do our best to keep you both safe while you remain in our care." He stood back up to his full height. "Ironhide, she is now your charge, you will keep her safe."

Hide nodded his head decisively, sealing the deal.

Just then they all heard a commotion outside. A group of bots and humans were approaching the open front doors of the hangar and it sounded like someone, no...several someones, were yelling over each other. My god, it sounds like a riot out there! Wait a minute...

That sounded like... "Oh, no..." Laura!


End file.
